Jaroslav Husár

Yes, This Is Also How We Can Proceed

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I cannot help but quote the following: “Prime Minister Robert Fico and the Government of the Slovak Republic are currently preparing pro-growth measures to support economic growth. Their principal objectives include reducing the fiscal deficit and improving the country's financial credibility. Fico and his government are seeking to prepare legislative and technical measures to abolish the financial transaction tax, which places a burden on the business environment, and to reduce the tax and contribution burden. The opposition points out that the government is failing to introduce genuine pro-growth measures, although abolishing the transaction tax is regarded as a positive step that could contribute to economic growth.”

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We, Too, Knew Economics

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Professor Jaroslav Husár revisits the work of five Slovak and Czech economists: Rudolf Briška, Imrich Karvaš, Jozef Sojka, Viktor Pavlenda, and Karel Engliš. Drawing on their writings on economic cycles, monetary policy, equilibrium, regional disparities, and human needs, he argues that Central Europe possessed a substantial body of economic thought before the post-1989 transition. Husár questions whether that intellectual tradition received sufficient attention during the transition and in subsequent European economic policymaking. The essay combines an account of these thinkers’ contributions with a critical argument for more rigorous, historically informed economic analysis.

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Slovakia’s Rating Is the Worst in Decades

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Credit-rating agencies assess countries using grades such as AAA, AA or BBB – but what exactly do these categories tell us about the real condition of an economy? Professor Jaroslav Husár questions the methodological transparency of such assessments and points instead to the tools of discriminant analysis, which make it possible to work simultaneously with multiple economic indicators, their variability and their mutual relationships. Using a simple numerical example, he demonstrates why rankings based on a few letters or on the mere sum of indicators may conceal substantial differences between the economies or regions being assessed.

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What Is Worse?

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I have retained the title exactly as it appears in the press quotation: “What is worse: The Slovak economy continues to grow slowly. It has failed to exceed one percent growth for six consecutive quarters. Growth did not even mirror the spring recovery in the euro area. According to the available data, only France, Belgium and Austria grew more slowly. Romania and Ireland recorded a decline. Despite the Recovery Plan being close to completion, investment also fell.”

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The State Budget and Deficit Problems

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The article examines the Slovak Republic’s state budget deficit and critically evaluates how fiscal imbalances are discussed by the media, opposition representatives, and public institutions. It argues that emotionally charged expressions such as “budget hole” or “disaster” cannot substitute for a rigorous analysis of the causes, consequences, and possible remedies of fiscal imbalance. As its principal analytical framework, the article introduces a two-period intertemporal government budget constraint linking present and future tax revenues, government expenditure, the budget deficit, public debt, and interest costs. This relationship demonstrates that current fiscal decisions inevitably affect future taxation, public spending, and indebtedness. The article advocates the development of an econometric model of the Slovak state budget capable of quantifying the effects of fiscal measures on economic growth, output, employment, national income, and the trade balance. It further argues that the tax system should be analysed and reformed as an interconnected whole rather than through isolated adjustments to individual taxes. Effective fiscal consolidation therefore requires a combination of expenditure rationalisation, systemic tax reform, econometric modelling, and sustained fiscal discipline. More broadly, the article stresses that media commentary and political rhetoric cannot replace the findings and analytical methods of economic science.

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A New World Order: China’s Alternative to the Western Model

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The expansion of BRICS, China’s growing economic importance and the shift of the world’s economic centre of gravity towards Asia and the Global South suggest, according to Professor Jaroslav Husár, that the existing Western model is losing its privileged position. The author reflects on the emergence of a multipolar world order, criticises European economic policy and argues that states must once again assume responsibility for managing, optimising and developing their own national economies over the long term.

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Economic Betterment and Improvement

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Evropa čelí krizi, jejíž příčiny nelze pochopit pouze prostřednictvím debat o bezpečnosti, migraci nebo ztrátě důvěry v politické elity. Zásadním problémem je také neschopnost tvůrců hospodářské politiky skutečně „vidět“ do fungování ekonomiky. Samotný údaj o růstu HDP totiž neukazuje, co se děje s výrobou, investicemi, úsporami, daněmi ani finančními vztahy mezi domácnostmi, podniky, státem a zahraničím. Profesor Ján Husár proto představuje matici společenského účetnictví jako ekonomický ekvivalent rentgenu: nástroj, který zachycuje vzájemné vazby, kontroluje soudržnost údajů a umožňuje nejen diagnostikovat příčiny nerovnováhy, ale také matematicky modelovat různé varianty hospodářské politiky. Text připomíná, že bez kvalitních dat, ekonomické logiky a vědeckých metod nelze odpovědně rozhodovat o budoucnosti Slovenska ani Evropské unie. Místo jednostranného zbrojení autor vyzývá ke skutečnému zvelebování evropských ekonomik.

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The ECB intervened against inflationary risks – the door is open

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According to Professor Jaroslav Husár, the European Central Bank did not just fall asleep with its reaction to inflation – it failed above all in its understanding. In his text, he explains why raising interest rates alone cannot replace thorough econometric modeling of inflationary processes, and recalls that he pointed out the risks of expansionary monetary policy years ago. Based on his own mathematical models, he concludes that without a deeper understanding of the relationship between the money supply, the price level and the real economy, monetary policy risks turning into improvisation rather than scientifically based economic management.

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EU countries struggle with debt

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European economies are once again struggling with high deficits and growing public debt. According to prof. According to J. Husár, it is not only a political failure, but a deeper methodological problem: the Maastricht debt criterion of sixty percent of GDP was set without sufficient respect for the dynamics of individual economies. Using two mathematical models, he shows that the relationship between debt and the performance of the economy cannot be bound by one flat number for all states.

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Are we following an economic trend?

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The Slovak government presented a package of measures to help the economy. However, it does not solve the essence of the problem: economic development, investment and the creation of new production capacities.

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