Those Who Want Four-Day Workweek Believe in Santa Claus
The media have experienced a recurring tide of reports about the four-day working week. The topic plays on the right strings – most people are employees and work five days a week.
Minimum Wage, Maximum Tragedy
If we want to start talking about next year’s minimum wage increase, we first need to look to the past. As we all know, 2020 was the year of the pandemic, and that brought with it, among other things, a significant downturn in the economy, and with it a fall in labor productivity. The private sector responded logically by reducing the growth in average wages. But not all businesses had this option.
Economic Analysis of Digital Markets Act
The European Commission has presented a proposal for The Digital Markets Act (DMA). Its goal is to create fair and competitive digital markets in the EU. It aims to achieve this by introducing new ex ante regulations that will automatically apply to so-called “gatekeepers”. The gatekeepers are to be large internet platforms that meet selected size criteria.
Adult Education in Slovakia Has Not Grown Up Yet
In Slovakia, we have a long-term problem with adult education. On average, only 4.5% of adults are involved in the lifelong learning process, while the OECD average is around 11%. How to solve this problem?
Paying for Results, Not Expenses
Large oil field, steel production capacity, or number of tractors produced do not make the company rich. The company grows rich thanks to skilled people in the right place, their excellent skills and ability to adapt to change. As Julian Simon used to say, the ultimate source of wealth is man.
Dealing with the Gross Problem of the “Semi-Gross Wage”
When we talk about wages in Slovakia, we refer to gross wage. From an economic point of view, however, it is a fictitious value created by accountants. It represents an arbitrarily set point between the two key values: net wage and labor costs.
Blanket Pay Rise for Slovak Teachers Is Not a Solution
The Slovak education system has a number of problems but the generally low teacher salary is not one of them. Those who claim the opposite refer to an international comparison: the share of teachers’ wages in wages of university-educated people.
If I Were Slovak Minister of Education
If I were the Minister of Education, I wouldn’t hesitate for a second when it comes to autonomous schools. They create a relatively small opposition among the interest groups in Education, they can achieve a lot in the long-term perspective.
What Slovak Education System Needs
The new Slovak government brings new hopes for an education reform. Previous governments were unable to manage the ministry. They typically came up with announcements of general changes, only to get suffocated by dealing with pointless details in the end.
New Book by INESS: Progress without Permission
If you are one of those fascinated by the Internet and its influence on the society, this is the book for you. Progress without Permission is a complete guide to the world where Airbnb rescues the dead capital and it competes with the state in the regulation making process.
