scholarly journals Are Municipalities in the Czech Republic too small?

Geografie ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 103 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Hampl ◽  
Jan Müller

The article focuses at problems of size differentiation of Czech municipalities with special regard to small municipalities. The question of "size" and regional variability of size differentiation is discussed. The difference between political and economic aspects in search for optimal size of municipalities is stressed. The concept of a two-tier organization of local administration is formulated in the conclusion.

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lenka Matějová ◽  
Juraj Nemec ◽  
Milan Křápek ◽  
Daniel Klimovský

AbstractMany countries have carried out extensive amalgamation-related territorial reforms at the level of local self-government and created relatively large municipalities. The Czech Republic is one of the few remaining European countries with a fragmented territorial structure. There is a lot of discussion in the country about the need for amalgamation, but this discussion is mainly based on political arguments rather than on empirical evidence about the feasibility of amalgamation and its potential to improve local government performance. This paper analyses economies of scale on the local level as a factor that should be reflected in debates about the pros and cons of amalgamation in the Czech Republic. To add to the existing knowledge about the reality of economies of scale on the municipal level in the Czech Republic, we processed the municipal costs of three selected areas on a representative sample of municipalities in the South Moravian Region. The analysis showed that economies of scale can be identified for collecting local fees and for pre-school and elementary education, but not for local administration. Our results suggest that the existence of too small municipalities in the Czech Republic results in inefficiencies and should be addressed.


2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Jarmila Čelakovská ◽  
Josef Bukač ◽  
Lenka Čáková ◽  
Marie Šimková ◽  
Eva Jandová

Aim: To evaluate the occurrence of melanoma in the period 1996–2017 in East Bohemia region in the Czech Republic. Method: We studied the incidence of melanoma and the age of diagnosis (adjusted calculation) and the parameters such as histology, body site of lesions, the length of the duration of lesions in 2810 patients. Results and conclusion: No change in the occurrence of melanoma and in age of melanoma during this period was found. The difference between men and women was not confirmed in histology, but the difference between men and women was confirmed in the body site of lesion and in the length of duration of lesion. No relation between the length of duration of lesions from which melanoma had originated and its histology was confirmed. The relation was confirmed between histology and body site of melanoma. The relation between the body site and the length of duration of previous lesions was confirmed also. The increasing occurrence of melanoma on the trunk according to the duration of the previous lesions was confirmed.


Author(s):  
Jaromír Kolejka ◽  
Eva Nováková

Small parcels of agricultural land are rare in the present landscape of Czech Republic and become the subject of interests of the state protection of the nature, the landscape and the environment. At the same time, such areas represent interesting subjects for the local administration as attractive tourist object. In the historical territory of Moravia (the eastern 1/3 of the Czech Republic), a regional inventory of areas with preserved ancient land use structure was carried out on all individual cadastral territories (focused not only on small parcels, but also on large aristocratic estates on agricultural and forest land originated before the main wave of industrial revolution Moravia, before 1850. The sites are still subjects to topic economic pressure on land consolidation. Their existence in the future is under threat and is decreasing every year both in number and size. The inventory results are presented on example of the Jeseníky region.


Author(s):  
Juraj Nemec ◽  
Lenka Matejova ◽  
Jana Soukopová

This chapter discusses the problem of territorial fragmentation and summarizes the arguments for and against a solution in the form of territorial consolidation regarding the example of the Czech Republic. The main reason for the consolidation of municipalities are the benefits derived from the theory of the economies of scale. Linked to this is also the question of how to determine the optimal size of a municipality in order to make the best use of the principles of scale economies. The second part of this chapter shows an analysis of Czech municipal expenditures on selected public services that municipalities provide, and based on the results, determine the optimal size of the municipality for the analyzed services. Data from the Czech Republic do not clearly support the economic arguments for territorial consolidation


2009 ◽  
Vol 55 (No. 11) ◽  
pp. 519-533 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Střeleček ◽  
R. Zdeněk ◽  
J. Lososová

The Common Agricultural Policy has been implemented in order to guarantee the appropriate life quality for farmers and to preserve the European heritage. Costs of its realization amounted to 40% of the EU budget. The EU has not established the same conditions for all member states. The aim of the paper is to assess the influence of agricultural subsidies and the structure of production on the incomes of agricultural holdings and their comparison with the largest producers in the EU with similar production structure. The shift-share analysis is used. Different amount of subsidies according to the type of farming together with increasing subsidy rate may influence the type of farming. Therefore, it may cause a paradox that the structure of subsidies according to the type of farming will stimulate products that are currently suppressed. The difference in subsidies in comparison with the largest producers with a similar structure of agricultural production is significant for the Czech Republic and it is possible to compare it to the increase of the SAPS by 75%.


2019 ◽  
Vol 101 (2) ◽  
pp. 558-563
Author(s):  
Markéta Gloneková ◽  
Karolína Brandlová ◽  
Jan Pluháček

Abstract In polygynous mammals, females are expected to bias maternal investment in favor of male calves. The mother should invest more in males to enhance their reproductive success in adulthood, or the males require greater investment as they are bigger and stronger than females. In this study, we used nursing duration to compare the difference in the amount of maternal investment provided by females. We compared differences according to sex of the offspring and the influence of calves’ identification by sniffing, using captive giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis) as a model. Since a high intensity of allonursing (nursing of a nonfilial calf) was reported in giraffes, we also focused on the difference between filial and nonfilial calves. We observed 22 nursing females and 47 suckling calves in four zoological gardens in the Czech Republic from 2007 to 2011. Nursing duration was longer for male calves than for female calves and for calves sniffed by the nursing female regardless whether the calves were filial or nonfilial. We conclude that male calves are more demanding for the amount of investment received and they are more successful in this effort than female calves. Since females provided investment in the same way to filial and nonfilial calves, selection for higher demand for investment by male than by female offspring should be important for their future development. Our results also demonstrate the importance of sniffing for the identification of the suckling calf by the female.


2018 ◽  
Vol 63 (No. 8) ◽  
pp. 305-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ptáček Martin ◽  
Ducháček Jaromír ◽  
Schmidová Jitka ◽  
Stádník Luděk

Lamb growth performance traits in relation to parental breeding values (BVs) for these traits were evaluated in a purebred Suffolk sheep population in the Czech Republic. The research lasted over 8 years and included 24 886 lambs. Four relevant parental BVs were observed: BV predicted for lamb live weight direct effect (BVLW-DE), BV predicted for lamb live weight maternal effect (BVLW-ME), BV predicted for lamb musculus longissimus lumborum et thoracis depth (BV-MLLT), and BV predicted for lamb backfat thickness (BV-BT). The lamb live weight (LW; kg), musculus longissimus lumborum et thoracis depth (MLLT; mm), and backfat thickness (BT; mm) were assessed at 100 days of age. A dataset was created using the most current parental BVs for each year (2007–2014) and subsequent growth traits of their lambs in the next season (2008–2015). Linear regressions showed an increased tendency when one point in dam BVs was associated with an increase in lamb LW (0.393 kg; P < 0.01 in BVLW-DE and 0.090 kg; P < 0.05 in BVLW-ME), MLLT (0.340 mm; P < 0.01 in BV-MLLT), or BT (0.243; P < 0.01 mm in BV-BT). Lower (but significant – P < 0.01) values on linear regression were detected for sire BVs, when 0.135 kg of LW, 0.217 mm of MLLT, and 0.214 mm of BT corresponded to 1-point increases of BVLW-DE, BV-MLLT, or BV-BT. This was confirmed by ANOVA evaluation, especially for LW and MLLT traits. Maximal differences (P < 0.05) in lamb LW were 1.84 kg or 0.88 kg regarding to dam or sire BVLW-DE groups. Similarly, the difference (P < 0.05) in lamb MLLT reached 0.82 mm in dam BV-MLLT, while 0.57 mm was detected in sire BV-MLLT groups. These results have practical implications for the objectives of selection schemes used in the Suffolk sheep population in the Czech Republic.


2008 ◽  
Vol 53 (No. 1) ◽  
pp. 21-29
Author(s):  
J. Cmejrek

The Velvet Revolution in November 1989 in the former Czechoslovakia opened the way to the renewal of the democratic political system. One of the most visible aspects of the Czech political development consisted in the renewal of the essential functions of elections and political parties. On the local level, however, the political process - as well as in other post-communist countries - continued to be for a long time influenced by the remains of the former centralized system wherein the local administration used to be subjected to the central state power. Municipal elections took hold in these countries, however, the local government remained in the embryonic state and a certain absence of real political and economic decision-making mechanism on the local level continued to show. The public administration in the Czech Republic had to deal with the changes in the administrative division of the state, the split of the Czechoslovak federation as well as the fragmentation of municipalities whose number increased by 50 percent. Decision making mechanisms on the local and regional level were suffering from the incomplete territorial hierarchy of public administration and from the unclear division of power between the state administration and local administration bodies. Only at the end of the 1990s, the public administration in the Czech Republic started to get a more integrated and specific shape. Citizens participation in the political process represents one of the key issues of representative democracy. The contemporary democracy has to face the decrease in voter turnout and the low interest of citizens to assume responsibility within the political process. The spread of democratising process following the fall of the iron curtain should not overshadow the risk of internal weakness of democracy. The solution should be looked for in more responsible citizenship and citizens’ political participation. The degree of political participation is considered (together with political pluralism) to be the key element of representative democracy in general terms, as well as of democratic process on the local and regional level. The objective of this paper is to describe the specifics of citizens local political participation in the Czech Republic and to show the differences between rural and urban areas. The paper concentrates on voting and voter turnout but deals also with other forms of citizens political participation.


2002 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 213-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Hosák ◽  
R. Bahbouh

SummaryThe increasing cost of pharmaceuticals in the Czech Republic has led to restrictions on the prescription of more expensive atypical antipsychotics. The aim of the study was to compare the costs and outcomes of using risperidone versus classical neuroleptics in treatment of schizophrenia in order to see if there was any cost advantage in restricting use of more recent antipsychotics. Sixty-seven patients (39 women) with a mean age of 34.6 years (S.D. = 9.74) suffering from schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder were treated with risperidone while 67 patients (39 women) with the same diagnoses with a mean age of 35.7 years (S.D. = 9.91) received standard neuroleptics. Yearly direct medical costs and outcomes (indicated by the average Global Assessment of Functioning score) were assessed retrospectively in an open, intent-to-treat study by abstracting psychiatric outpatient charts. The outcomes were not significantly different between the treatment groups while the risperidone treatment was significantly more expensive than the therapy with standard neuroleptics. This result which appears to be inconsistent with the literature was caused by the cheap labor force in the Czech Republic. The difference between the followed treatments in the direct costs will probably become insignificant in the future when the country’s economy will be more developed.


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