http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11956/1919 Habilitations 2026-04-21T02:43:05Z http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11956/204310 Peníze a politika: Financování politických stran a volebních kampaní v České republice Tato kniha se věnuje problematice financovaní politických stran a volebních kampani v České republice. Jde o téma, které u nás bylo a doposud je spíše v pozadí akademického badání (z významných prací viz Outlý 2003; Šimíček 1997, 2005, 2012; Dočekalová 2012; Šimral 2016) a které bylo dlouho i v pozadí zajmu společnosti. Již od počátku transformace politické elity o nastaveni transparentního financovaní politiky neusilovaly, spíše se mu bránily. I když se s dílčí úpravou postaveni politických stran začalo poměrně záhy po pádu komunistického režimu (1990) s cílem nastavit právní podmínky pro první svobodné volby, tato úprava zásadním způsobem neřešila problematiku financovaní stran a spíše se soustředila na pravidla pro zakládaní a vznik stran. Teprve až na podzim 1991 nově demokraticky zvoleny parlament přijal podrobnější úpravu, která mimo jine upravovala hospodařeni a financovaní politických stran a hnuti. Již od samého počátku transformace – hodnoceno perspektivou zkušenosti za posledních bezmála 30 let – existoval poměrně značný korupční potenciál, protože statni pilíř financovaní téměř neexistoval a strany tak byly odkázaný na soukromé dary, přičemž postkomunistická společnost vzhledem k přetrvávající sociální struktuře příliš potenciálními sponzory nedisponovala. Zároveň se ale otevírala možnost vytvořit funkční korupční kanál přes statni vlastnictví podniků a bank a probíhající privatizaci směřující k politickým stranám. K vytvořeni tohoto kanálu – ať již promyšleně či nedomyšleně – legislativa nesporně přispěla. 2020-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11956/204309 Using Linked Data to Better Measure Poverty and to Evaluate Survey Accuracy This thesis demonstrates some ways in which researchers and policy makers can make use of this wealth of (often unstructured) information. Building on the recent success and availability of linked data, this thesis extends the methodological studies to make use of such data from my dissertation. It takes a more applied perspective by using linked data to demonstrate the extent and nature of survey error, to document its consequences and to propose simple ways to use data combination to monitor the problem of survey error. In the first chapter, we use linked data to analyze the extent and nature of misreporting in “Errors in Survey Reporting and Imputation and their Effects on Estimates of Food Stamp Program Participation” (forthcoming in the Journal of Human Resources), which is joint work with Bruce Meyer and Robert Goerge. The second chapter, “Using Linked Survey and Administrative Data to Better Measure Income” with Bruce Meyer, examines how these data errors affect common analyses in practice. It was published in the American Economic Journal: Economic Policy. In the third chapter, “An Empirical Total Survey Error Decomposition Using Data Combination” with Bruce Meyer (forthcoming in the Journal of Econometrics), we show how to use data combination to measure, monitor and thereby ultimately improve survey accuracy by estimating total survey error and decomposing it according to its source (e.g. coverage error, item non-response and measurement error). All three chapters are based on data sets we created by linking administrative records to survey data. Creating such validation data is necessary for the analyses we conduct, as it provides a unique way to validate survey responses. Obtaining, linking and working with these data sources requires the joint effort of policy makers (who supply the administrative data), statistical agencies (who supply the survey data and the tools to link them) and researchers who work with the data. The data are subject to strong confidentiality requirements and can therefore only be accessed from secure locations such as the U.S. Census Bureau and its Research Data Centers by researchers with special security clearance. In consequence, conducting studies such as the ones in this habilitation thesis require a team of researchers. Therefore, like most other studies that rely on linked data, all three chapters are joint work with co-authors, who have been essential to successfully create the data and conduct these studies. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11956/204308 The Technical of Revision and Virtual Maps Chapter 1 describes the development of social media within a broader context of digital capitalism. The chapter analyses a ‘double privatisation’ aiming first to accumulate technological knowledge in private corporations and second to employ the knowledge to commodify the user base. Such unprecedented conditions set the stage for the emergence of virtual maps that represent the technological empowerment of revisionist actors. Chapter 2 introduces the theoretical background inspiring the notion of preceding maps and their non-anthropic foundations. The chapter untangles machine learning, which drives the Information Age’s latest stage, from ill-formed musings regarding Artificial Intelligence. Chapter 3 provides a link to Security Studies discussion dealing with the risks and threats stemming from technology. Here, the book argues that when seeking to understand technology, the discipline has a history of treating the issue in a rather futurological manner, more often than not converging into alarmism and eschatological imaginaries. Chapter 4 provides an empirical analysis of the Islamic State’s visual preceding map. From the conceptual and methodological viewpoint, the chapter shows how to operationalise complexity by applying a machine learning method (a probabilistic topic model). Furthermore, analysing the unprecedented case of the Islamic State, it provides an empirical guideline for identifying preceding maps in the wild. Chapter 5 then proceeds to another revisionist case comprising the Czech language version of Sputnik International, the news outlet. By applying the same method as in the Islamic State case, it identifies a further type of virtual map: a blind map, and shows how it differs from preceding maps. The distinction is empirically realised by utilising the complexity-based guideline introduced in the previous chapter. The concluding chapter returns to the notion of ‘Technology of Revision’ and invokes the Heideggerian notion which considers technology a catalyst of the demise of the Western centric world order. Finally, a relevance of Heidegger’s ‘technology as final metaphysics’ is discussed, showing that the notion requires an empirical grounding otherwise it invites fallacious visions addressed in Chapter 3. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11956/201900 Dynamic Optimal Taxation with Human Capital Accumulation My habilitation thesis consists of five papers on the optimal tax systems in dynamic economies, in an environment where individuals can change their marketable skills by investing in their human capital. It is well known that individual’s skills are not exogenously given, say at the time of birth, but are dependent on individual’s past behaviour like the choice of schooling or on the job training. It is less known what are the implications for the optimal policy design. This is the goal of the papers in this habilitation thesis. More specif- ically, the goal is to provide answers to questions like i) what is the optimal level of income tax rates in the presence of human capital, ii) should income tax rates be increasing or decreasing with age, or iii) what is the role of school- ing subsidies in the optimal policy design. Since human capital formation is inherently dynamic, the answers cannot be obtained from static models, and one needs a dynamic framework to answer them.