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This dissertation presents the results of research focused on the Austrian business cycle theory (ABCT). The main part of the thesis is an econometrical test of five predictions based on ABCT. I used data on the US economy for period 1967 - 2016, which is the longest time period covered in the Austrian empirical literature so far. Since one of the most important variables for ABCT is so called interest rate gap (the difference between market interest rate and natural interest rate), I use three alternative models of this variable. The results of my empirical tests predominantly confirm theoretical predictions of ABCT. It can be shown that the interest rate gap influenced the relative structure of economic activity and resource allocation in a way predicted by ABCT. I also investigate whether the interest rate gap does have a significant impact on stock market valuations (in terms of aggregate level or relative structure), although the results are mostly statistically insignificant. In addition I also described several possible new distortions which may emerge due to unconventional monetary policy. I argue that these distortions should be of primary interest for researchers engaged in the Austrian research program. I devoted special attention to the specifics of monetary policy regime in Japan, where the Bank of Japan regularly intervenes on the stock market. Another theoretical contribution can be found in the second chapter where I respond to the White's (1999) claim that Hayek implicitly repudiated his own version of ABCT in later part of his career, when proposing free competition in money production. I attempt to show that White's conclusion stems from an inadequate interpretation of Hayek's writings. Finally I provide an alternative interpretation of Hayek's work that reveals the compatibility of his early and late theoretical contributions.

This work presents an economic analysis of virtual currency and a system of payment known as Bitcoin. From many goals of this work, the main is to answer a question, whether the Bitcoins are to cause revolution at financial markets. To solve this I applied theoretical knowledge of Austrian school on the Bitcoin currency. Given this facts it has turned out, that the nature of Bitcoin truly is revolutionary. However, it would be wrong to assume, that the Bitcoins are to actually spark significant changes in current monetary system. For a better understanding of all circumstances, the development of an exchange and the evolution of money was involved in this work. From an economical perspective, it is obvious, that the Bitcoins certainly are a new kind of currency that flows beside money but also cannot replace it. It is the specificity of the system what creates barriers preventing Bitcoins from becoming more widespread and used more often. The benefits of this thesis lie in a complex economic analysis of Bitcoin currency and a prediction of its future development.

The master's thesis critically analyses the works of John Maynard Keynes and Friedrich August von Hayek concering the explanation of business cycles based on monetary determinants. The analysis is primarily based on J. M. Keynes's Treatise on Money (1930) and Prices and Production (1935) author of which is F. A. Hayek. The thesis, on one hand, refutes the main explanation of the cause of business cycles of the Austrian business cycle theory and, on the other hand, it argues the imcompatibility of the main analytical tool of Treatise with the theory of innovation by J. A. Schumpeter.

The thesis is dedicated to clarifying the origins and main causes of the economic crisis. In the first part I ilustrate the connection between the monetary policies of central banks and the changes in structure of the production and investments with the help of Austrian Business Cycle Theory. These theoretical assumptions are confronted with the empirical findings from USA throughout the 20th century. The second part discusses other factors leading to the crises, mainly focusing on the 2009 economic crises and various free market and state controlled factors. The thesis discusses these factors from the point of view of theoretical and empirical knowledge of economic science.

This paper focuses on empirical analysis of selected relationships derived from the Austrian Business Cycle Theory (ABCT). Special attention is paid to consumer durable goods. ABCT suggests that change in the rate of interest or credit availability induces change in relative consumption, production, and relative price of durable goods. This paper aims to verify whether the changes in these variables are consistent with Austrian theory. Several hypotheses are established and tested, using vector autoregression and Granger causality tests. The analysis is based on US time series data, covering the period between 1985 and 2013. The analysis failed to prove conclusively the validity of the hypotheses.

The aim of this diploma thesis is to empirically investigate the explanatory power of Austrian business cycle theory. My dataset consists of US quarterly time series within the period between 1971 and 2009. As regards the NBER classification, this dataset covers six complete business cycles, including the recent global financial crisis. Following Wainhouse (1984), Keeler (2001) and Bjerkenes et al. (2010) I use Granger causality as one of the primary tools of the analysis. Moreover I also add Impulse response functions to discover the direction of observed relationships. As regards my primary group of hypotheses I found significant empirical evidence for the connection between changes in interest rate and structure of production. The secondary group of hypotheses is less successful; however I found the very first empirical illustration of Garrison's version of ABCT.

This paper analyzes the Austrian theory of business cycles. This theory describes the reasons that cause cyclical fluctuations in economic activity. Its foundations are built on the Austrian theory of capital. The main goal of this paper is to identify these reasons and construct a model based on them. This model attempts to capture the effect of explanatory variables on the structure of production according to Hayek's triangle. This is based on a sample of monthly U.S. data from the period 01/01/1977 to 04/01/2011. Data were tested using a linear regression model. Output from the model confirmed some of the variables as consistent with the Austrian theory of business cycles. However, there are many problems associated with applying this econometric model to the theory, whose leaders consistently opposed the introduction of mathematical methods in economic science.

This paper is based on the theoretical framework given by the Austrian Business Cycle Theory. This theory explains clearly the causes, process and consequences of trade cycles that are inevitable parts of modern economies. Based on this framework, there was built a model trying to illustrate the impact of indicators standing behind the origin of business cycles on production structure of the USA examined on monthly data from years 1984 to 2009. The results of this model are conformable with predictions given by the Austrian Business Cycle Theory. Despite this, it is not possible to predict the future development of the US economy till the end of 2010 using this model, due to many problems that minimize relevance of such forecast. Nevertheless, it is possible to make prediction using the theory explained by the Austrian school of economics.

This bachelor thesis deals with the anti-crisis policy of the U.S. central bank, the Federal Reserve system (FED), during the twenties and early thirties of last century. Attention is directed primarily to two major crises that occurred during this period. It is a little known post-war Depression of 1920-21 and the Great Depression of 1929-33. Anti-crisis policy, which were used by a top U.S. monetary autority -- Federal reserve system to address these two crises were to each other in stark contrast. In the first case there were chosen restrictive and deflationary policies, while in the latter case there were applied an anti-crisis expansionary and inflationary policies. These different approaches have been also accompanied by a different course of the crisis. Based on analysis of anti-crisis policy of the Federal Reserve System in the early 20th century work shows that there is a causal relationship between anti-crisis policy of the central bank and the state of economic development and that this stabilization (anti-crisis policy) of Federal reserve system deepen economic contraction rather than help economic from them. The work is theoretically based on ideas of the austrian economic school and its business cycle theory.

This thesis is dedicated to clarification of the Austrian approach to the central bank policies, particularly in relation to production structure changes and disruption of the price coordination mechanism. Firstly, I will try to clarify the theoretical patterns, as formulated by the founders of this concept, which is known as the Business Cycle Theory, and then I confront the theoretical knowledge with real statistical data from the U.S. in recent years. The thesis should show, that the Business Cycle Theory can thanks to its complexity and logical structure fully reveal the real causes of the recent economic crisis and that even after decades since its first formulation it can be considered as actual and functional conception, which should be taken into account when deciding on monetary issues.

Předmětem mé bakalářské práce je diskuse nad škodlivostí monetárního jevu deflace. Na začátku práce objasňuji, jak se bankovnictví vyvíjelo od počátku vzniku peněz, přičemž důraz kladu na bankovní systém a monetární politiku Rakousko-Uherska a hlavně Československa, které se s deflací ve 20. a 30. letech 20. století potýkalo a jak zasáhly takové autority tehdejší republiky jakými byli Alois Rašín a Karel Engliš. V další části práce uvádím, jak se na deflaci dívá ekonomie hlavního proudu a proti ní rakouská škola i po-friedmanovská větev ekonomů. Nemohla bych opomenout ani názor prof. Vencovského, který se touto problematikou detailně zabýval. V závěru práce si skromně dovoluji shrnout problematiku deflace a její vliv na ekonomiku, zda je deflace ?zdravím?, či ?nemocí? ekonomiky.