This dissertation is divided into four essays, each of them having its own structure and methodological framework. Although each of the essays making the chapters of the thesis is self-contained, their topics are very closely related. Consequently, the reader will be able to follow the thesis in its unity. Essay I is a selective survey of the extensive, mostly theoretic, literature dealing with monetary policy rules. We aim at contextualization of the monetary policy rules in the existing monetary economics literature. We explain the logic, the inspiration and the history of the rules for the monetary policy conduct. We distinguish between instrument rules and targeting rules as two basic categories. Finally, we resume specific issues related to policy rules for small open economies. Essay II studies the logic of short-term interest rate setting pursued by 15 EU countries before and after the launch of the EMU. We employ econometric estimation of the augmented Taylor rule (TR) for individual 15 EU countries and the Euro area. Although a vast empirical evidence is available for the major economies like the US, the UK or Germany, there is an important gap in our understanding of the factors behind the short-term interest rate dynamics in smaller economies. We find that in the period preceding the euro adoption, the TR is a poor representation of monetary policy setting in most EU countries and that many central banks considered decisions made by dominant economies rather than their domestic macroeconomic developments. The analysis of monetary policy rule of the ECB features additional problems related to the heterogeneity of the EMU. We argue that results based on Euro-area aggregated series, commonly presented in empirical studies, are subject to diverse econometric problems. We provide some evidence that the ECB is concerned also with national information and propose quasi-panel analysis as a viable framework. Essay III explores the relation between the existing monetary policy and domestic price stability in small open emerging economies, in particular the 12 EU new member states. This work has three principal objectives. First, it aims at revealing the logic of interest rate setting pursued by monetary authority of each country. The linear specification of the Taylor rule, applied already in the Essay II, is accompanied by an extensive analysis of nonlinearities in monetary policy rules and the inference on their possible sources. We find that the official monetary policy is sometimes inconsistent with the empirical evidence on the short term interest rate setting. The second objective consists in revealing the determinants of the inflation process. We have found that inflation rates are driven not only by backward persistency but also by the forward-looking component. Third, we employ analysis of the conditional inflation variance so as to give account on the viability of the existing monetary policy setting for price stability. We conclude that the policy of inflation targeting seems to be preferable to exchange rate peg because it allows decreasing not only inflation rate but also its conditional variance. Essay IV seeks to shed light on inflation dynamics of four CEEC (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) and test when the predominant model of inflation, the New Keynesian Philips Curve (NKPC), is consistent with the data of these countries. According to the microfounded NKPC, the current inflation is related to inflation expectations and the real marginal cost. The empirical validity of this model has recently become a subject of major controversy in the monetary economics. Although we find some favorable evidence for the NKPC, it seems to be too restrictive model for small open economies. In particular, the failure of the NKPC to explain the inflation dynamics of these countries may be related to the assumption that inflation is related to forward-looking price setting of domestic monopolist firms while our evidence suggests that prices in CEEC have an important backward-looking component and the inflation is significantly driven by external factors like the exchange rate and the foreign inflation rate.

Deflation, today understood mainly as a decrease in price level, is in the eyes of the mainstream economists the threat and danger of the economic development. This view is based on the experience from the Economic Crisis between 1929 and 1933 and later development in Japan. Therefore, the price stability is nowadays comprehended as a non decline in price index; monetary policy actually states the sustainable increase as a goal. The Austrian School of Economics uses the original definition of the words inflation and deflation and defines them as the increase and decrease of money supply. Modern interpretation of these terms means for them a dangerous misunderstanding whose result is misapprehension of causal connections between individual phenomena. This leads not only to incorrect conclusions but, above all, to disruption of the economic system, price and production structure, and development of economic cycles caused by artificial increase in money supply, which brings profit to certain groups.

This dissertation deals with the development of the economies of Central and East Europe, which are also the new EU members. States, in the sequel of the global financial and economic crisis. In the theoretical part of, among other things, there is the issue of financial system crisis and subsequent economic recession, whic brouhgt long-term economic stagnation, substantial losses in production, consumption, investments, and foreign trade. The main dissertation shows, partly the situation in selected states of Central and East Europe before and during global financial and economic crisis, on the other, this dissertation is monitoring existing course according to basic macroeconomic characteristics of selected countries in this region. The result is a capture, valorization and subsequent summary of the macroeconomic characteristics, the analysis of Eurostat data and UNCTAD, showed the differencies between impact of financial and economy crisis on selected countries in Central and East Europe. According to the obtained data, which were analysed before 2014, it can not be said, that the economic recovery of selected countries was strong enough in order to keep all the values of macroeconomic indicators which were at levels that these countries reached before financial and economy crisis.

This thesis deals with current issues relating to the mortgage market. The aim of the thesis is to analyse factors which influence the mortgage market in the Czech Republic and to describe their influence on the quantities of mortgages within last 10 years (2002-2011). The theoretical part introduces basic concepts related to the mortgage market, the legislation and chosen factors that could have an influence on the quantities of mortgages. Among these factors were chosen GDP, the rate of unemployment, the inflation rate and the interest rate of mortgage loans. One part deals with mortgage crises which came into existence in the USA in 2007 and had an impact on economics of other countries. In practical part there is an introduction into development of chosen factors and then there is finding out whether these factors influence the quantity of mortgages.

This thesis analyzes the impact of the monetary policy of the Czech Republic on the Czech banking sector. It explains the monetary transmission mechanism in an inflation targeting regime and its channels: interest rates channel, asset price channel, exchange rate channel and credit channel. The aim of the thesis is to introduce and analyze channels of the Czech transmission mechanism by Correlation and Graphical Analysis of chosen time series and using Linear Regression Model. The analyses are calculated in MS Excel and Gretl.

Synchronizace inflačních cyklů je jednou z podmínek teorie optimální měnové unie, a jelikož bude jednoho dne valná většina členských států EU používat euro, zdá se analýza konvergence jejich inflačních měr jako rozumná i z dnešního pohledu. Používáme data měřítka harmonizovaného indexu spotřebitelských cen, jakož i velmi flexibilní model zdánlivě nesouvisejících regresních modelů a podáváme důkaz o všeobecně rozšířeném, setrvalém a robustním výskytu konvergence inflace v celé EU mezi lety 1999 a 2016. Navíc nám naše metodologie umožňuje zahrnout do modelu řadu dummy proměnných indikujících konkrétní období s možným dopadem na konvergenci inflace. V tomto smyslu ukazujeme, že měnové režimy zaměřené na cenovou stabilitu (inflační cílování, opatření omezující pohyb měnového kurzu) mají příznivý dopad, období globální finanční krize a nulové dolní meze se obecně nejeví jako rušivé, zatímco efekt zavádění společného evropského práva zůstává nejistý. Naše hlavní závěry implikují, že synchronizace inflace zřejmě nepředstavuje problém pro další rozšíření Eurozóny.

This paper uses the semi-structural Laubach and Williams model to estimate the time- varying natural rate of interest by Kalman filter and Maximum Likelihood method, applying it for the first time to Czech data. The results show a significant decrease of the natural interest rate during the past decade, which constitutes further evidence for the wide-spread notion that structural factors in many countries have shifted after the global financial crisis. The paper's contribution is mainly represented by preparing ground for further research. It concludes that the basic version of the Laubach and Williams model is not optimal for the Czech environment and suggests appropriate adjustments to it. It discusses and analyzes sources of potential problems with the estimation, notably the issues of singularity and model specification. Eventually the paper concludes that due to the low significance of results and the uncertainty of gains and losses related to a policy switch, the best reaction of the central bank would be to keep the current regime and inflation target. JEL Classification C32, E43, E52, O40 Keywords natural real interest rate, inflation target, inflation measurement, monetary policy, Kalman filter, trend growth Author's e-mail lucie.scheer@gmail.com Supervisor's e-mail tomas.holub@fsv.cuni.cz v

The dissertation thesis is devoted to the topic of investment with emphasis on their position within the transmission mechanism of inflation targeting. It discusses starting-points of inflation targeting regime, individual transmission channels of monetary policy including their connections, and routes through which the central bank may influence the investment. There are analyzed selected investment theories and other theoretical models that are associated with the investment. Factors, whose changes may induce changes in investment, are derived using the intersection of these two analyzed aspects. They are variables, which flow from a theoretical analysis of transmission channels, as well as variables, that are not directly accented within these channels, but they can be affected by the central bank. Even factors, that are not within the competence of the central bank, are included among the variables. Using available data, sources of investment variability are verified on data for the Czech Republic. Basic empirical analysis of time series and correlation analysis are performed and the vector error correction model is compiled.

The aim is to analyze the economic and political aspects of the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993 in the context of monetary separation and further analyze its impact on monetary indicators in the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. The thesis provides a comprehensive view of the development of relations within Czechoslovakia after 1989 and monetary separation in 1993. First, attention is focused on description and analysis of economic and political relations between the two nations, which are demonstrated in the illustrative examples of the development of Czechoslovakia between 1989 and 1993. Then analyzes the preparation, conduct and impact of monetary separation on the inflation rate, balance of payments, interest rates and foreign exchange reserves, and consequently macroeconomic indicators are compared both newly formed states. The thesis is written for use with the description, analysis and comparison. Based on the analysis, we can conclude that the collapse of the state was no longer possible in 1993 to avoid. It can be concluded that the monetary separation had no immediate impact on the study of monetary indicators. Based on comparison of selected macroeconomic indicators of the countries we were able to demonstrate that in the first years after the collapse of the federation with the Czech economy developed better and more stable than Slovak Republic. Implementation and results of the disintegration of Czechoslovakia and the associated monetary separation can be considered as a basis for solving current problems eg. In any disintegration of the common currency in the European Union or the possible dissolution of several national states. A proper currency separation in 1993 had a negative impact on the development of monetary variables surveyed states.

My thesis focuses on the analysis of financial instruments suitable to finance own housing available in the Czech Republic, especially on mortgages, building savings loans and consumer loans, from the client's perspective. The first chapter presents these three selected options, describes them along with their most important parameters. The second chapter presents three main financial groups in the Czech Republic alongside with their selected products. Individual products are compared and evaluated using preselected examples: buying a property and a reconstruction. Last chapter describes the most common influences on the demand for loan products to finance own housing and analyses them, focusing on the interest rates and the inflation rate.