A Survey of Czech Economists: What Do They Think?

• Thesis title in Czech: A Survey of Czech Economists: ; What Do They Think?
• Thesis title in English: A Survey of Czech Economists: ; What Do They Think?
• Key words: Dotazníkové šetření ekonomů, míra shody, hodnoty, ekonomická doporučení, liberalismus, názory, intervencionismus
• English key words: Survey of economists, level of consensus, values, policy views, liberalism, opinion, interventionism
• Academic year of topic announcement: 2015/2016
• Thesis type: Bachelor's thesis
• Thesis language: angličtina
• Department: Institute of Economic Studies (23-IES)
• Supervisor: prof. Petr Janský, Ph.D.
• Author: hidden - assigned by the advisor
• Date of registration: 11.05.2016
• Date of assignment: 11.05.2016
• Date and time of defence: 15.06.2016 08:00
• Venue of defence: IES, m 206
• Date of electronic submission: 13.05.2016
• Date of proceeded defence: 15.06.2016
• Opponents: doc. PhDr. Lubomír Cingl, Ph.D.

Guidelines

Winston Churchill allegedly complained that whenever he asked Britain´s three leading economists for advice on economic policy, he received four different opinions – two of which are from John Maynard Keynes. Unfortunately, it is known that many people doubt about the ability of economists to offer a credible policy recommendation because their opinions frequently differ. Consequently, many surveys, related to this topic, have been conducted which try to measure the level of consensus among economists. The aim of this work is to explore the situation in the Czech Republic and try to answer certain interesting questions in this field.
Firstly, findings from the surveys conducted in the past will be summarized. The author will then proceed to conduct his own survey – several hundreds of Czech economists will be contacted via email and asked to fill a questionnaire, containing approximately 20 questions concerning the economic policy. The economists will also answer certain background questions concerning their age, gender, academic career, and beliefs. After conducting the survey, overall level of consensus among the Czech economists and agreement with the current economic policy of the Czech Republic will be examined. Moreover, intertemporal comparison with the past surveys will be performed. Furthermore, the degree of consensus after controlling for certain specific characteristics will be measured. Finally, an econometric model will be constructed so as to discover factors which determine to which extent are opinions of an economist liberal or interventionist.


Research questions:
What is the overall level of consensus among Czech economists? What is the level of consensus considering individual propositions?
Do Czech economists agree with Czech policy makers?
How has the position of Czech economists changed in the past few years?
Which factors affect the ability of economists to reach an agreement and to which extent?
Which factors determine to which extent are opinions of an economist liberal or interventionist?

References

Frey, B. S., Pommerehne, W. W., Schneider, F., and Gilbert, G. (1984). Consensus and Dissension among Economists: An Empirical Inquiry. The American Economic Review, 74(5), 986-994. Retrieved from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/557?loginSuccess=true&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

Fuchs, V. R., Krueger, A. B., and Poterba, J. M. (1998). Economists’ Views about Parameters, Values, and Policies: Survey Results in Labor and Public Economics. Journal of Economic Literature, 36(3), 1387–1425. Retrieved from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/2564804.pdf?acceptTC=true

Gordon, R., and Dahl, G. B. (2013). Views among Economists: Professional Consensus or Point-Counterpoint? American Economic Review, 103(3), 629-635. Retrieved from: http://econweb.ucsd.edu/~gdahl/papers/views-among-economists.pdf

Kearl, J. R., Alson, A. M., and Vaughan., M. B. (1992). Is There a Consensus Among Economists in the 1990’s? The American Economic Review, 82(2), 203-209. Retrieved from: http://www.weber.edu/wsuimages/AcademicAffairs/ProvostItems/global.pdf

Kearl J. R., Pope, C. L., Whiting, G. C., and Wimmer, L. T. (1979). A Confusion of Economists? The American Economic Review, 69(2), 28-37. Retrieved from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1801612?loginSuccess=true&seq=9#page_scan_tab_contents

Šťastný, D. (2010a). The Economics of Economics. Instituto Bruno Leoni in cooperation with CEVRO Institute and Wolters Kluwer ČR, a.s. Retrieved from: http://www.cevroinstitut.cz/upload/file/Ke%20stazeni/The_economics.pdf

Šťastný, D. (2010b). Czech Economists on Economic Policy: A Survey. Econ Journal Watch, 7(3), 275-287. Retrieved from: http://econjwatch.org/articles/czech-economists-on-economic-policy-a-survey

Šťastný, D. (2011). Checking the Czechs: Consensus and Dissention Among Czech Economists. Prague Economic Papers, 19(4), 366-380. Retrieved from: https://www.vse.cz/polek/download.php?jnl=pep&pdf=405.pdf

Preliminary scope of work

1. Úvod
2. Teoretická část
a) Přehled literatury
b) Hypotézy
c) Definice konceptů, popis užitých metod
3. Empirická část
a) Popis dotazníkového šetření
b) Měření celkové míry shody mezi ekonomy, srovnání jednotlivých hospodářsko-politických doporučení ekonomů, měření míry souhlasu českých ekonomů s českými politiky; mezičasové srovnání s předchozími výzkumy
c) Analýza kategorických proměnných majících vliv na schopnost ekonomů dosáhnout vyšší míry konsenzu
d) Analýza faktorů určujících sklony ekonomů mít spíše pravicové, či levicové názory
4. Závěr

Preliminary scope of work in English

1. Introduction
2. Theoretical part
a) Literature review
b) Hypotheses
c) Definition of utilized concepts
3. Empirical part
a) Basic information about the conduction of the survey
b) Measuring the overall level of consensus, the level of consensus considering the individual propositions, and the disagreement with Czech policy makers; carrying out an intertemporal comparison
c) Measuring to which extent various characteristics of an economist affect the ability to reach an agreement
d) An analysis of factors determining the tendency to have liberal opinions
4. Conclusion