During years 2016-2023 the activities of IDEA think-tank were enabled by Strategy AV21, a special project of the Czech Academy of Sciences. Within the framework of Strategy AV21, namely of its Effective Public Policy Research Program, IDEA research was being carried out to provide new empirical evidence to be discussed not only by scholars, but first of all by policy makers.

 

 More information on Strategy AV21 (in Czech).

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IDEA at Cerge-EI has long been cooperating with the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic. Based on expert analyses, it is able to advise the Senate and make its own proposals in the field of public policies.

In 2021, for example, the report "Financial Support for University students in the Czech Republic (Status and Recommendations)", authored by economist Daniel Münich, was submitted to the Senate. The report addresses important issue of the financial support for university students and support for education in general, which is still insufficient in the Czech Republic. Among other things, the report comes up with specific recommendations to improve the current situation.

Similarly related to the area of education is a report by economist Václav Korbel on the topic of 'The link between socio-economic disadvantage and regional and higher education', which was also submitted to the Senate last year.

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IDEA at Cerge-EI regularly cooperates with the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs in monitoring unemployment trends, especially in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. From 2020 onwards, we publish a graphical representation of unemployment trends based on data from the MPSV.

IDEA researchers produce reports for the MPSV on major economic and social issues. An example is the report "Analysis of the Impact of Parenthood on Labour Taxation Using the TAXBEN Model" prepared by economists Filip Pertold and Michal Šoltés.

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In February 2022, IDEA at Cerge-EI produced a bibliometric report on IKEM's scientific publication results for the years 2017 to 2020 entitled "Annotated Analysis of Journal Publication Results, Productivity and Scientific Citation Impact of IKEM Basic Research in 2017-2020."

• • This report presents the main findings of the bibliometric analysis of IKEM's scientific publication results from 2017-2020 and the citation impact of publications from 2015-2016 in the subsequent period 2015-2020.
  • In addition to quantity, the analysis also takes into account the quality, or influence and significance of the scientific results.
  • In addition to publication and citation performance, the report also takes into account the staff size of IKEM's research facilities, which is an important factor for assessing scientific productivity and comparing departments working in the same scientific fields.

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Daniel Münich, Libor Dušek, Klára Kalíšková a Petr Janský cooperated with the Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic on the „Model for empirical evaluation and prediction of the impact of tax changes“ project funded by a grant from the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic (Project TAČR TD010033) over 2012-2013. The main results are microsimulation tax models TAXBEN and QUAIDS, which estimate the impact of changes in direct taxes and social support (TAXBEN) and the value added tax (QUAIDS), respectively, on the taxpayears, households and public budget. Download background information on both models: Model TAXBEN, Model QUAIDS, Software Manual, TAXBEN Software and QUAIDS Software (only in Czech).

More information on the topic (in Czech).

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Petr Janský collaborates with the Center for Global Development on its Commitment to Development Index (CDI). CDI shows which countries have most development friendly policies. Petr Janský has contributed to the project by proposing a measure of illicit financial flows that underlines the Finance component of the CDI. Petr Janský, together with a IES FSV UK graduate, Zuzana Řehořová, presented the first ever results of the CDI for the Czech Republic in the IDEA Policy Brief 6/2012. 

More information on the topic.

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Daniel Münich is affiliated to the European Expert Network on Economics of Education (EENEE). EENEE is an EU Think Tank sponsored by the European Commission, Directorate General for Education and Culture. The network is coordinated by the Ifo Institute. EENEE aims to contribute to the improvement of decision-making and policy development in education and training in Europe by advising and supporting the European Commission in the analysis of economic aspects of educational policies and reforms.

More information on the topic.

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IDEA is through the Economics Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences (EI) and the Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education (CERGE) the national partner of the EUROMOD project coordinated by the Microsimulation Unit, a team of researchers, in ISER. EUROMOD is a tax-benefit microsimulation model for the European Union (EU) that enables researchers to calculate the effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes and work incentives. It is also used to evaluate the effects of tax-benefit policy reforms and other changes on poverty, inequality, incentives and government budgets. The IDEA research team, most notably Klára Kalíšková and Daniel Münich, use the EUROMOD model for comparative analysis of tax-benefit systems in the Czech Republic and other countries; for example, see the IDEA Policy Studies 7/2013 and 8/2013.

More information on the topic.

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Martin Srholec is the ERAWATCH correspondent from the Czech Republic. ERAWATCH is the European Commission's information platform on European, national and regional research and innovation systems and policies. Its main objectives are to support policy-making in the research and innovation field in Europe and to contribute to the realisation of the European Research Area (ERA). ERAWATCH is coordinated by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre - Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (JRC-IPTS) in Seville. The flaship publication is the annual ERAWATCH Country Report: Czech Republic.

More information on the topic.

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Daniel Münich is a national expert in the European employment observatory (EEO) organized jointly by CERGE-EI in Prague and the GHK Consulting in Birmingram. EEO contributes to the development of the European Employment Strategy through the provision of information, comparative research and evaluation on employment policies and labour market trends in 33 countries.

More information on the topic.

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Petr Janskýcollaborates on the Financial Secrecy Index (FSI) published by the Tax Justice Network.The FSI shows which countries contribute most to global financial secrecy. One of the messages of the FSI results is that not only little island states (tax havens included), but also some big economies are the biggest contributors to the financial secrecy. Petr Janský focuses on the quantitative part of the FSI and estimates the exports of financial services. 

More information on the topic.

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Vilém Semerák is the national partner for the World Competitiveness Yearbook published by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD). The IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook is the leading annual report on the competitiveness of nations. The yearbook benchmarks the performance of 60 countries based on 333 criteria measuring different facets of competitiveness.

More information on the topic.

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The Methodology for Detecting High-Risk Contracting Authorities provides a framework for identifying risks within the public procurement system. The methodology was developed as part of Project No. TD020099, *Empirical Models of Public Procurement Manipulation: Evidence from the Czech Republic*, which was carried out with financial support from the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic (TA CR).

The methodology consists of four components: a theoretical, data, analytical, and implementation part. Its implementation is carried out through the **Application for the Detection of High-Risk Public Contracts (ADRZ)**, developed for Microsoft Excel (application with source code here, user manual here). ADRZ generates lists of potentially high-risk public contracts exhibiting indicators of non-standard contracting authority behavior.

The methodology is based on the theory of the public procurement life cycle, which describes potential risks arising during procurement procedures. It utilizes data from the **Public Procurement Information System (ISVZ)**, the **Commercial Register (OR)**, and the **Collection of Decisions of the Office for the Protection of Competition (ÚOHS)**. These data sources determine which procurement characteristics can be used to identify potentially risky behavior.

The empirical part of the methodology first evaluates the quality and completeness of data for selected risk indicators and subsequently tests their predictive power for potential inefficiencies and waste in public procurement using an econometric model. The following criteria were identified as suitable indicators of risky behavior:

* A small difference between the estimated contract value and the final awarded contract price;
* A low number of bids submitted in the procurement procedure;
* A high number of contracts awarded through negotiated procedures without prior publication (JŘBU);
* A high number of contracts awarded just below the threshold for simplified below-threshold procedures (ZPŘ);
* Whether the contract was investigated by the Office for the Protection of Competition (ÚOHS).

The resulting set of criteria is incorporated into the ADRZ application. The main advantages of ADRZ are its targeted identification of potentially high-risk contracts, flexibility, and user-friendliness.

The methodology is intended primarily for supervisory and control bodies within the Czech public administration and for non-governmental organizations (in cooperation with Oživení, a civic association) as a tool for the preliminary selection of high-risk contracting authorities and contracts for further audit and review.

The methodology can be downloaded here. The empirical appendix is available here.

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In 2014–2015, a research team consisting of Petr Janský, Klára Kalíšková, and Daniel Münich carried out the project “Design of Methodologies for the Quantitative Empirical Identification of Socially Disadvantaged Demographic Groups and the Analysis of Their Interactions with Tax-Benefit and Other Social Policy Instruments.” The project was supported by Grant No. TD020188 from the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic (TA CR).

The main outcome of the project was a certified methodology entitled “Design of Methodologies for the Quantitative Empirical Identification of Socially Disadvantaged Demographic Groups and the Analysis of Their Interactions with Tax-Benefit and Other Social Policy Instruments,” authored by Petr Janský, Klára Kalíšková, and Daniel Münich. The methodology was developed in cooperation with the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs of the Czech Republic and is available for download here.

The certified methodology describes a proposed approach for the quantitative empirical identification of socially disadvantaged demographic groups and the analysis of their interactions with tax-benefit and other social policy instruments. The methodological framework combines household income data with household expenditure data and makes it possible to examine the impact of social benefits as well as direct and indirect taxes on income inequality and the risk of poverty in the Czech Republic.

A popular summary study presenting the main findings of the project is available under the title: “Impact of Taxes and Social Benefits on Income Inequality and Relative Poverty in the Czech Republic.”

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In 2014–2015, a research team led by Petr Janský carried out the project “A System of Indicators for the Taxation of Multinational Companies in the Czech Republic.” The project was supported by Grant No. TD020039 from the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic (TA CR).

The main outcome of the project was a certified methodology entitled “A System of Indicators for the Taxation of Multinational Companies in the Czech Republic,” authored by Petr Janský. The methodology was developed in cooperation with the Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic and the General Financial Directorate and is available for download here.

The methodology defines a set of indicators for assessing the taxation of multinational companies operating in the Czech Republic. These indicators identify potential mechanisms used to reduce corporate tax bases and shift profits abroad, making it possible to detect companies whose tax practices may not be consistent with best practice standards. Extreme indicator values may serve as a trigger for further investigation by public authorities.

The methodology therefore complements the existing analytical tools used by the General Financial Directorate in the area of multinational corporate taxation.

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In 2014–2015, a research team consisting of Libor Dušek, Jan Vávra, and Paolo Buonanno carried out the project “A Model Predicting the Development of the Prison Population.” The project was supported by Grant No. TD020251 from the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic (TA CR).

The main outcome of the project was PRISMOD, a simulation model that forecasts the development of the prison population in the Czech Republic as a function of crime rates and criminal justice policy parameters. The model simulates the sentenced prison population, disaggregated into nine categories of criminal offences and two types of prisons.

PRISMOD generates scenarios of future prison population developments based on assumptions selected by the user. These may include, for example, a scenario maintaining current policy parameters or a scenario assuming the continuation of existing trends in the model parameters. The model is particularly suitable for simulating the impact of changes in criminal legislation and other criminal justice policy measures on prison population levels.

PRISMOD was developed in cooperation with, and for the needs of, the Ministry of Justice of the Czech Republic and the Czech Prison Service. The model has been transferred to both institutions for further use. As a result, the Czech government now has access to an analytical tool that enables more effective planning of prison capacity needs and facilitates the assessment of the impacts of proposed policy measures on inmate numbers.

The model documentation (certified methodology) and the simulation software are available here:

• Certified Methodology: “PRISMOD: A Model Predicting the Development of the Prison Population”
• Simulation Software

A popular summary study presenting the main findings of the project is available under the title:

“Does Prison Overcrowding Loom Again? Predicting the Prison Population in the Czech Republic.”

In 2014–2015, Martin Srholec carried out the project “Methodology for Evaluating the Cost-Effectiveness of Targeted Public Support for Applied Research and Development in Firms.” The project was supported by Grant No. TD020249 from the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic (TA CR) under the OMEGA programme.

The main outcome of the project was a certified methodology that provides guidance on estimating the incentive effect of direct public subsidies on firms’ research and development (R&D) expenditures. The core objective of the methodology is to use econometric methods to determine whether public subsidies stimulate additional private investment in R&D or, conversely, tend to crowd out private resources that firms would otherwise devote to research and development.

This represents an innovative approach in the Czech context and has the potential to make a significant contribution to improving the framework for evaluating R&D support programmes. The methodology was developed for the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic, which certified it and adopted it for practical use.

The methodology is also used by IDEA at the Economics Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences as a tool for conducting econometric analyses of the effects of public support programmes on research and development activities in firms.

Certified Methodology: “Methodology for Evaluating the Cost-Effectiveness of Targeted Public Support for Applied Research and Development in Firms.”

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