L60 - Industry Studies: Manufacturing: GeneralReturn

The manufacturing sector has been regarded as a key factor in the history of economic devel-opment and growth. However, economic fluctuations affect manufacturing seriously. This study examines the impact of the 2008 global economic crisis on Turkish manufacturing sector profit-ability. This paper uses micro-econometric difference in differences methods in conjunction with the macroeconomic forecasting method to investigate how profit levels in the Turkish manufacturing industry are affected by the crisis. The results indicate that the profit levels changed significantly after the crisis with a one-year lag and actual profits exceeded the estimated profits in the later years. Economic impacts of crises have long been investigated; however, this paper differs from the literature in using a new analytical framework for the issue. The suggested method can be expanded to other areas, which can spark new future studies.

Czechia is one of the most export-oriented countries, reaching high levels of economic complexity. However, its innovative capabilities remain limited. Taking these factors into consideration, we determined the country's optimal diversification path by identifying prospective export sectors which would enhance the country's competitiveness. We combine the product space and proximity methodologies on predicted export data together with a company-level analysis. We identified machinery for specialized industries and parts thereof (SITC 7284), machine-tools for specialized industries parts or accessories (SITC 7281) and power hand tools, pneumatic or non-electric, and parts thereof (SITC 7541) as the most prospective categories in terms of high complexity, expected trade volume growth, proximity to Czechia's existing production capabilities and manufacturing base operated by large, highly innovative Czech-owned firms.

The main objective of this paper is to find the determinants of the international competitiveness of the manufacturing sectors of the Czech economy, using the database of 13 manufacturing sub-sectors in 1995-2011, with the aid of ECM model. The authors research the question of how much foreign and domestic demand, the level of labour costs, the level of sector innovation intensity, the level of sector openness to foreign markets as well as sectoral labour productivity influence the changes in their trade balance. The results of the analysis conducted show substantial differences in the roles particular variables play in explaining the net exports in individual sectors. The results of the analysis indicate mostly a greater impact of the researched factors on net exports in long rather than short term.

The main objective of this article is to test the existence of Stolper-Samuelson theorem between Turkey and EU-15 countries for the period 2005-2014. According to the results, a significant relationship is found between exports and real wages especially in the labour and raw intensive sectors of Turkish exports, where Turkey is relatively labour and raw abundant in comparison with the EU-15. Test results indicate a long-run relationship between exports of manufacture of wearing apparel, food, textiles and real wages, a unidirectional Granger causality relationship is found from exports to wages in manufacture of wearing apparel and food. The international trade between Turkey and the EU-15 validates to some extent the Stolper-Samuelson theorem.

Work incentives are closely related to production performance. This paper presents evidence that the value added of a firm increases when relative labour wage rises, or the level of unemployment increases. Both circumstances imply evidence in favour of the efficiency wage model. This theory is consistent with the views of many managers and personal administrators, who tend to ascribe primary importance to wage setting as an incentive to increase effort. We use a micro panel data set of Spanish manufacturing firms for the period 2004-2009 to simultaneously estimate a stochastic frontier of a firm's value added and the inefficiency determinants. The data source is published in the Spanish Industrial Survey on Business Strategies (Encuesta sobre Estrategias Empresariales, ESEE) collected by the Fundación SEPI.

The paper investigates both the impact of domestic and import competition on performance of manufacturing industries in the Czech Republic in 1998 - 2002. Using panel data we found a strong increasing non-linear (diminishing) relationship between performance of manufacturing industries and domestic competition measured by the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index. Import competition measured by an import penetration ratio is negatively related to performance of Czech industries, while foreign direct investments are positively correlated with performance.

This paper analyses the trade flows and tariff rates of environmental goods in the Czech Republic in the period 1993 - 2002. The analysis is based on environmental goods' categories according to "OECD list of environmental goods". The export and import of environmental goods is investigated also from the foreign trade territorial structure point of view. The five indicators have been used to describe the achieved level of trade liberalization in environmental goods in the Czech Republic.