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The region of Latin America remains the most unequal in the world, despite the downward trend of last years. The negative socioeconomic impact of high income inequality has been examined and proved by many studies. The difference between inequality rates in Latin America and more equalitarian countries is much bigger when regarding income after taxes and transfers, which follows that the source of persisting high rates of unequal income distribution might be found in ineffective fiscal policy. This thesis examines the assumed impact of implemented fiscal policy on level of income inequality for four Latin American countries (Mexico, Brazil, Chile and Colombia). In the theoretical part, theoretical background for income inequality and fiscal policy is covered. The practical part includes analysis of development of income inequality, public expenditures and tax revenues in these countries from 1992 to 2012. Subsequently, regression model proves a significant negative impact of public health expenditures on income inequality in case of Mexico, Brazil and Chile. Public spending on education is found effective in reduction of income inequality in Brazil, however in case of Chile an increase in public spending on education seems to increase unequal distribution of income among households. Main finding of this thesis is that when efficiently targeted, fiscal policies aimed at increasing expenditure on health and education systems are likely to serve as effective measures of reduction of unequal income distribution.

The aim of the paper is to examine the convergence hypothesis as well as whether EU funds positively influence income convergence. Four countries of Central European countries are chosen: Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia, to be compared to EU15 over the period of 1993 to 2015. The original hypothesis states that Poland should show the fastest speed of income convergence; Czech Republic should exhibit the lowest speed according to the convergence hypothesis. Moreover, it is assumed that EU funds have positive influences on income convergence. In order to test the hypothesis, beta convergence and sigma convergence are utilized by running regression models in STATA. The convergence hypothesis is correctly confirmed with the data from the regression models. Furthermore, it is proved that the EU funds brought positive impacts on income convergence based on changes in the income gap in the period of 1993 to 2015. So, EU funds have contributed to the process of income convergence between the four countries towards EU15.

The thesis examines an unusual dynamic of the rate of self-employment in the Czech Republic. The hypothesis is that the positive dynamic of the rate of self-employment was caused by the influence of the extraordinary trends of the main determinants of the rate. OECD panel data and Eurostat databases were used for the empirical verification of the hypothesis. All regressions were based on the merged OECD data sets. Eurostat databases were used for an additional analysis. I found that all main determinants perform according to the theoretical background. Furthermore, there is nothing unusual in the main determinants of the self-employment for the Czech Republic. Despite the fact that other countries with the positive dynamic of the rate showed differences in the trends. Thus, I discuss possible alternative reasons.

The findings of the research reveal that GDP has a number of important flaws and shortcomings, and thus fails to serve effectively for the purpose of measuring the economic growth of countries and welfare of their population as of today. Based on the evaluation of the advantages and drawbacks of macroeconomic measures alternative to GDP such as the United Nations Human Development Index, the Social Progress Index, the Environmental Performance Index, the Happy Planet Index, the Legatum Prosperity Index, the OECD Better Life Index, the World Happiness Index, etc., the author comes to a conclusion that despite the growing use of alternative measures, as of today, they are not able to replace GDP, but might complement it quite effectively.

The aim of the thesis is to broaden the research in the field of housing economics using the statistical tool of meta-analysis. The thesis examines the relationship between the selling price of a house and the time the house spends at the housing market. Although the research investigating this relation is of a wide comprehension, the results arising from various primary studies differ a lot. The goal of the thesis is to explain the source of this heterogeneity and determine the factors causing this variation. According to the results, it can be concluded that the effect size is influenced mainly by number of observations, modelling technique and specification of the model. Median income or location are other factors also determining the size of estimated coefficients. Also publication bias has been investigated although its presence is not confirmed in this thesis.

Nuclear weapons are a rather marginal issue in economics as opposed to the political realm where it is an ever-present topic concerning global security. This thesis argues that economics can make a valuable contribution to the nuclear weapons debate in several ways and aims to present those in a comprehensive manner. First, a cost-benefit approach is employed to show that costs and benefits go beyond counting dollars directly spent on nuclear arsenals. Second, market investment in nuclear weapons producers is analysed with the help of SWOT analysis. It has been shown that the profitability of such an investment is closely tight to government decisions and ethical concerns must be taken into account as well. Finally, game theory, namely the ideas of Nobelist Thomas Schelling (1960), is being used to examine behaviour of states, the main actors connected to nuclear weapons. If the theory is true, nuclear weapons will serve as a deterrent and an equilibrium, or focal point, of non-use will prevail. Nevertheless, some assumptions and conditions are not being met in reality and the possibility of a non-equilibrium outcome, the use of a nuclear weapon either by accident or intent, remains.

This thesis examines the effect of the government expenditure structure on the economic growth. The objective is to determine which components of public expenditures are growth enhancing and which growth retarding. The theoretical model is set into the endogenous growth framework and describes the growth mechanism of productive and unproductive government expenditures. The growth impact of public spending composition is analysed for 18 European countries from 1996 to 2012. The empirical part is based on the panel data analysis. The empirical findings suggest that reallocating public resources towards education and health can promote growth. Whereas, higher expenditures on spending and defence are likely to be growth-retarding.

My thesis examines a paradoxical relationship between the openness of a country to the international trade and the size of its government. My hypothesis is that the openness causes growth of the government sector. Panel of five middle European countries is used for empirical verification of the hypothesis. I use the sum of import and export over GDP as a suitable proxy for openness of a country and total government revenue over GDP as a proxy for scope of a government. Using the random effects estimator, I found the negative effect of openness on the government size, but I failed to find this effect significant or robust. Hence, I discuss alternative explanations.

This thesis explores the impact of securities transaction tax (STT) on stock market quality. In order to identify the effects of STT on trading activity and market quality two recent STT introductions in France and Italy are analyzed. The effects are observed on panel data in four periods utilizing several trading activity and market quality measures. Following previous literature difference-in-differences approach is applied using various control groups including German and Spanish equities. The results point to significant decrease in trading activity and increase in bid-ask spreads in France following STT imposition. The impact on volatility is statistically insignificant across different specifications and estimation periods. The results for Italy are inconclusive due to possible contamination by political events, but the evidence indicates decrease in trading activity following STT introduction.

Bitcoin as a payment system indisputable offers advantage over the government currencies in transaction time and its costs. On the other hand the moneyness of Bitcoin itself is questioned. This paper analyzes Bitcoin from Austrian perspective and compares the qualities of Bitcoin with deserved qualities of money in order to find out whether Bitcoin could serve as money. The examined properties are portability, storability, divisibility, recognizability, homogeneity and scarcity. Moreover it examines the consistency of Bitcoin emergence as medium of exchange with Mises' regression theorem and identifies the non-monetary value of Bitcoin. The result of theoretical analysis shows that Bitcoin's properties can facilitate the functions of money.