Zugl.: Fribourg, Universiẗat, Diss., 2009.

In the euro area interest rates have dropped low for almost a decade now and it is anticipated to endure in the years to come. This creates challenges for banks performance, therefore this paper observes whether interest rates effect bank profitability. Further investigating whether loan growth should be an important factor to also consider in the model. We use data for 72 banks from various countries in the Eurozone for the period 2006-2016 and conduct a panel data analysis on this data. Results show that loan growth is not significant and is not a vital component to be included in the model. We find a negative significant relationship between the spread which compromises of long-term deposit rates minus the interest rate controlled by the European Central Bank. This suggests that, a decrease in interest rates can and had eroded bank profitability in the euro area.

This thesis comprises of four essays on fiscal policy and fiscal policy adjustment. The first of these essays, Chapter 2, reviews a wide range of literature about fiscal policy. This chapter also discusses the sudden stop and fiscal policy during sudden stops episodes. Chapter 3 constructs a simple dynamic deterministic model to study how the speed of adjustment to a sustainable level of debt affects economic welfare. The simulation results in Chapter 3 suggest that in order to bring the level of external debt to a sustainable level as required by foreign lenders, the small open economy will attempt to delay adjustment as long as possible. Chapter 4 uses a Structural Vector Autoregression Model to estimate government consumption multipliers for groups of countries. The empirical results suggest that: (i) The higher degree of financial openness, the larger the government consumption multiplier. (ii) The government consumption multiplier is significantly bigger in countries with higher levels of external debt. (iii) The higher the level of financial development, the smaller the government consumption multiplier. (iv) The government consumption multiplier in countries with fixed exchange rates seems to be bigger than in countries with a flexible exchange rate regime. Chapter 5 of this thesis analyses four case study countries including Greece, Latvia, Pakistan and Turkey. This chapter finds that fiscal policy choice varies across countries because there are many possible determinants for this. It will also be determined that all factors including the level of public debt, level of external debt and monetary policy, especially exchange rate regime, affects the fiscal policy choice of each country. Furthermore, Chapter 5 also points out that political economy can influence fiscal policy directly and indirectly.

The aim of the thesis is to evaluate the current state of preparations for adoption of the European currency, in particular, the implications for the legal system of the Czech Republic and comparison with the adoption of the currency in Slovakia. In the first part describes the beginnings of European integration, the Maastricht criteria and the preparations for the introduction of the euro in Slovakia. In the second part of the thesis I deal with current preparations for the transition of the European currency in the Czech Republic and the fulfilment of the legal conditions of our country with regard to the adoption of the single currency euro as legal tender in the future. I focus on the impacts and necessary adjustments in the legal order of the Czech Republic, which will have to be made in the case of the integration of our country into the eurozone. In this part, attention is paid to the analysis of the preparations and the consequences of transition to the single currency in Slovakia.

The thesis addresses the points of interest related to establishing the euro currency in the Czech Republic by 2020. What are the connected costs and benefits? Is euro going to be a contribution to the Czech economy? The theoretical part describes the creation process of European monetary union. The paper then works with advantages and risks associated with euro. The main cost of membership in the eurozone being the loss of independent monetary policy and the loss of the exchange rate mechanism is estimated in range of 0.59 to 2.34 % of GDP. Comparing the direct costs and benefits then leads to a net loss for the Czech Republic. Mutual comparison is conducted between the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It is shown that the difference in economic progress between these two countries is statistically insignificant. Thus the thesis concludes that establishing the euro in the Czech Republic by 2020 would be of no benefit.

The master thesis examines the development of competitiveness in Germany and Italy in the context of common currency and outlines the implications of this development. The theoretical part focuses on the perception of competitiveness on national level and the impact of the Economic and Monetary Union membership on the economies and their competitiveness in general. Subsequently, the most commonly observed indicators concerning national competitiveness from a narrower and broader point of view are introduced. In the practical part, broader economic and historical context is presented, followed by an assessment of the competitiveness of both economies on the basis of selected indicators: unit labour costs, the labour market situation, productivity, export performance and structure, nominal and real exchange rate developments and current account developments. The final part analyses the development of competitiveness according to the multi-criteria assessments of the World Economic Forum and the International Institute for Management Development.

First, this paper presents basic definitions of the consumption function and gives a summary of main theoretical concepts of consumption as well as an overview and discussion of important papers on consumption. Above all, papers examining the influence of the interest rate upon consumption are accented. Furthermore it contains a brief context summary of current and potential eurozone members, work of the ECB and execution of common monetary policy. Subsequently we discuss the hypothesis of a possibly asymmetric impact of the interest rate upon consumption in individual countries, expand and justify the hypothesis based on indebtedness, wealth, etc. Empirically, hypotheses are tested on historical data of individual countries: transmission between interest rates of central banks (later the ECB) and market interest rates, correlation analysis of consumption changes and central interest rates in individual countries, correlations with year-on-year changes. Also, consumption functions are estimated using time series models while testing alternative variables in the regression equations. We discuss analysis results and methods used; the influence of the interest rate upon consumption seems to be small and the relationship type is not much different across the eurozone countries. Eventually, we outline possible implications of our results with respect to the future of the eurozone and related activity of the ECB.

The paper examines the degree of convergence between the business cycles of the new EU member states and eurozone. This convergence is a necessary condition for a troublefree operation of a monetary union. Several analyses have been used to assess the problem -- pure time series correlation, correlation of detrended time series and of lagged series, and above all impulse-response functions correlation and forecast error variance decomposition. Finally, the paper briefly assesses the evolution of business cycles convergence.

In my diploma thesis, I study optimality of the European Economic and Monetary Union on basis of principles of the Theory of Optimum Currency Areas -- OCA, with special attention to the criterion defined by R.A.Mundell. I point out some rigidities of the European labor market because of which this criterion is not met. On basis of an assumption that the more countries meet these criteria, the more suitable candidates for an entry of the monetary union they are, I reach a conclusion that EMU is not an optimal monetary zone. Nonetheless, the thesis does not ignore a hypothesis of the endogenous character of the OCA theory criteria, i.e. that they can be met even after an entry of the monetary union. Furthermore, with respect to the OCA theory criteria, I study appropriateness of the set Maastricht Convergence Criteria for evaluation of preparedness of countries for an entry of the EMU. The thesis also deals with potential revenues and costs of the introduction of euro in the Czech Republic. At the end of the thesis, I suggest potential alternatives of future development of EMU with respect to the current problems of the monetary union.

Thesis analyzes different indicators of competitiveness in period before and after adopting of euro in Slovakia. First chapter contains theoretical background, defines competitiveness and methods of its measuring. Second chapter analyzes development of macroeconomic indicators such as GDP, inflation, government debt and deficit. Aim od third chapter is to evaluate competitiveness of Slovakia, using different competitiveness reports and this chapter also contains analysis of unit labor costs, labor productivity and real effective exchange rate. Fourth chapter is analyzing different exchange rate regimes and compares impact of financial crisis on Slovak and Czech economy due to the fact, that countries had different exchange rate regimes in this period.