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The controversy about the effectiveness of government interventions in the economy exists perhaps from time immemorial. Especially at a time when the economy is in crisis, this topic is always more popular. Essay returns to the dispute of two economists, which related to state intervention and its impact on the economy and of course, causes and solutions of the Great Depression. The first privy to this controversy is a representative of the liberal economics Friedrich August von Hayek and the second competitor is John Maynard Keynes, a supporter of government interventionism. Both, of course, saw the causes of the crisis elsewhere and both had different solutions. The aim of this paper is to examine the real causes of depression and to compare them with theories of these two economists. The goal is also investigate proposed measures against depression, their analysis and selection of effective solution. Due to the popularity of both economists in these days, the paper applies ideas of liberals and Keynesians on the current economic crisis, and verifies the validity and effectiveness of their theories.

The aim of this bachelor thesis is to answer the question whether European Currency Union (particularly the countries that have already entered the 3rd phase of European monetary union) is the Optimal Currency Area (OCA). This question is significant, especially when examining advantages and disadvantages of using a common currency (Euro). This work clarifies fundamental conditions that are connected with the theory of optimal currency area, as it has developed since R. A. Mundell. The thesis also briefly introduces historical development of the European Union and Monetary Union, and tries to point to fundamental turning-points within the integration process. Furthermore, there is a comparison with other regions which use a common currency, e g. the United States of America. One of the main characteristics of the OCA is unification of business cycles within the region. The final section of this thesis is devoted to an analysis and overview of business cycles of selected countries before and after adopting Euro.

The question of business cycles is one of the most interesting topics of the economic policy. The period of economic recession influences most of the subjects in the economy. One of these subjects is a firm. In this thesis I discuss the question how economic depression impacts the value of a firm and how firms react to the recession, what are the consequences of their reactions and the results of these consequences at the macroeconomic level. To demonstrate the impact of the crisis I have evaluated the firm ACTIVA with Discounted Cash Flow Entity method in two different time frames, first evaluation was done before the crisis occurred and the second was done during the crisis. I conclude that the crisis causes a slowdown of the growth of the relevant market and therefore also of the revenues of the firm, it causes a fall in the economic results and not least the profit margin. As a result the value of the firm decreases to less than a half of its pre-crisis value. This proves that the view of a firm's value has significantly changed as a result of the crisis. The firm's behaviour has changed as well and whence it follows that the business cycle is a consequence of a changed behaviour of the economic subjects, which operate their behaviour according to the prices.