Prague Economic Papers, 2024 (vol. 33), issue 2
ESG Score Uncertainty and Excess Stock Returns: European Stock Market Case
Michal Vyletelka
Prague Economic Papers 2024, 33(2):137-163 | DOI: 10.18267/j.pep.854 
The study explores a relationship between divergence in ESG scores (measurements of a company's performance in environmental, social and governance issues) and excess stock returns on the European equity market. The sample consists of 851 European stocks in the period from January 2015 to May 2022. It is concluded that, despite previous findings on the US stock market, a similar effect is not observed for equities in Europe. Even though the stock portfolios with the most and the least divergent ESG scores bear excess returns, the effect disappears when it is adjusted for Fama-French factors. The effect is not relevant for any specific industry, nor...
Contribution of EU Cohesion Policy to Regional Growth: Evidence from V4 Countries*
Martin Maris
Prague Economic Papers 2024, 33(2):164-186 | DOI: 10.18267/j.pep.855
The EU Cohesion Policy is one of the European Union’s key policy instruments for reducing economic and social disparities among its regions. The paper evaluates the policy contribution to regional economic growth in V4 (Visegrad Four) countries. The study establishes a significant variation in ESIF (European Structural and Investment Funds) distribution at the NUTS2 (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics) level within the V4 regions over 2000–2018. It suggests that ESIF absorption was not evenly distributed across regions within the V4 countries. This finding indicates that regional disparities in ESIF distribution may have contributed...
Risk-return Portfolio Level Trade-off for Czech Banks
Pavel Jankulįr
Prague Economic Papers 2024, 33(2):187-219 | DOI: 10.18267/j.pep.859
This paper examines the validity of the risk-return trade-off for a sample of Czech banks over the period 2002-2022 by analysing the relationship between the bank risk and risk-adjusted returns. I find evidence of a significant negative association between the regulatory risk measure and risk-adjusted returns, indicating that the risk-return trade-off does not hold. Specifically, a 100 bps increase in the risk is associated with about a 7 bps decrease in the return on risk-adjusted assets (RORWA) and an 11 bps decrease in the risk-adjusted net interest margin (rNIM) in the short run. The long-run effect is about double for RORWA and almost triple for...
Comprehensive Assessment of Enterprise Digital Competitiveness
Viktorija Skvarciany, Daiva Jurevičienė
Prague Economic Papers 2024, 33(2):220-243 | DOI: 10.18267/j.pep.857
There are studies investigating a country's digital competitiveness; however, there is a lack of research examining digital competitiveness at the enterprise level. Hence, the current study aims at composing an enterprise digital competitiveness index (EDCI), which provides a possibility to assess the level of enterprise digital competitiveness and could be used by policymakers in the development of a strategy for transitioning to the digital economy. The CRITIC and COPRAS approaches are employed for the index construction. The criteria and subcriteria provided by Eurostat (2022) are used as antecedents of the EDCI. The results indicate that Nordic...
Determinants of labour force migration: Evidence from the Western Balkans
Atdhetar Gara, Besnik Fetai
Prague Economic Papers 2024, 33(2):244-260 | DOI: 10.18267/j.pep.856
This paper empirically analyses the determining factors of the growth in the migration rate in the countries of the Western Balkans. The analysis is carried out with panel data over 17 years from 2005 to 2021. The purpose of this paper is to analyse social variables such as unemployment and standard of living, and political variables such as corruption, political stability, government effectiveness, rule of law and the level of corruption in the migration of citizens. For this purpose, we employ different econometric models and techniques such as OLS, OLS robust fixed and random effects models, and GMM (generalized method of moments). The study's findings...