<TITLE: Applications of Economics: Czech Republic's Economy and Entrepreneurial Environment
ACADEMIC DOMAIN: economics and administration
DISCIPLINE: economics
EVENT TYPE: seminar discussion
FILE ID: USEMD170
NOTES: continuation of ULEC070 and USEMP08A, seminar also includes presentation USEMP08B

RECORDING DURATION: 27 min 32 sec

RECORDING DATE: 25.4.2006

NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS: 8

NUMBER OF SPEAKERS: 8

S1: NATIVE-SPEAKER STATUS: Czech; ACADEMIC ROLE: senior staff; GENDER: male; AGE: 51-over

S2: NATIVE-SPEAKER STATUS: Spanish; ACADEMIC ROLE: undergraduate; GENDER: female; AGE: 17-23

S3: NATIVE-SPEAKER STATUS: Finnish; ACADEMIC ROLE: masters student; GENDER: female; AGE: 24-30

S4: NATIVE-SPEAKER STATUS: Czech; ACADEMIC ROLE: undergraduate; GENDER: male; AGE: 24-30

S5: NATIVE-SPEAKER STATUS: Czech; ACADEMIC ROLE: undergraduate; GENDER: female; AGE: 17-23

S6: NATIVE-SPEAKER STATUS: German; ACADEMIC ROLE: undergraduate; GENDER: male; AGE: 17-23

S7: NATIVE-SPEAKER STATUS: Finnish; ACADEMIC ROLE: undergraduate; GENDER: female; AGE: 17-23

S8: NATIVE-SPEAKER STATUS: Finnish; ACADEMIC ROLE: undergraduate; GENDER: male; AGE: 17-23

SS: several simultaneous speakers>


<LECTURE ULEC070 by S1>

<PRESENTATION USEMP08A by S4 and S5>

<S4> so this is the end of our presentation </S4>
<S6> so where is finland </S6>
<SS> [@@] </SS>
<S1> [thank you] [thank] </S1>
<S4> [we hope you] enjoy it and </S4>
<S1> thank you and please questions discussion </S1>
<S3> well can i just ask er i i visited er er prague er almost two years ago in the summer of er 1994 <S5> mhm [yes] </S5> [and] i had a lovely visit there and i was there for erm two days and i enjoyed my trip but i just wanted to ask erm the people or or the people in the service industry er waiters for example they were very er impolite <S4> yeah </S4> and their attitude was er somewhat negative @@ <S5> mhm </S5> so i was just wondering is it is it the normal way that that's just the way that people are or is it just that perhaps some inheritance from the communist era or just that you're not accustomed to tourists or what is it </S3>
<S4> yeah i think that's er one of the big problems like the services in the czech republic should be improved <S5> yeah </S5> much more or and also er workers like waitress or waiter it's not well-paid job <S5> [mhm] </S5> [and] also it could be and </S4>
<S5> i could say the main problem with that er i quite experience is standards in quite er very developed countries than like the czech republic and also standard there it's for example great britain and america it's much more better than in our country but i would say that it's the problem of many because people stay like long time at work they are not very well-paid and there's they are not very you know <S4> [the attitude is not] </S4> [very pleasant to] to customers and </S5>
<S1> and the langua- <S5> uh-huh </S5> language barrier would maybe language barrier could be [also] </S1>
<S5> [may-] i don't know if you if you had problem with language <S3> [no no no] </S3> [it's also maybe] problem but now in prague i think people speak but with that er that that's true @yeah [unfortunately]@ </S5>
<S3> [mhm i mean i didn't have same] problems with the language because <S5> [mhm-hm] </S5> [i was] i was coming from germany <S5> [uh-huh] </S5> [and i had] i was speaking half in english half in <S5> [mhm-hm] </S5> [german] we got understood very well so that that wasn't the problem <S5> [mhm-hm] </S5> [i was just] and like i didn't have a problem with it i was mostly just amused by their <S5> [uh-huh] </S5> [sort of attitude] but i guess for for example people coming from the US or something it would be really really [surprising to see the way the people] </S3>
<S5> [yeah yeah yeah i would say the same] mhm-hm </S5>
<S3> behave and talk to you </S3>
<S5> that's true so i really hope you're [going to (xx) @@] </S5>
<S3> [yeah no no no it didn't bother me] as i said it didn't bother me i was just amused but we were just talking with my friends and it's a <S5> [mhm-hm] </S5> [it's a] bit funny that that <S5> mhm-hm </S5> [well] </S3>
<S4> [and] it's a shame that <S3> [yeah] </S3> [it's] it is [how it is so] </S4>
<S5> [mhm-hm mhm it's true] <S3> yeah </S3> mhm-hm @mhm@ </S5>
<S1> so it's changing </S1>
<S4> @this generation@ </S4>
<SS> [@@] </SS>
<S5> [@we we are trying@] </S5>
<S4> so do you have any question other questions , no okay thank you </S4>
<S1> thank you <P:08> the next presentation <S6> yeah </S6> yes mhm-hm </S1>

<PRESENTATION USEMP08B by S6>

<S1> thank you , questions comments discussions discussions , yes there was a mention of corporate taxes corporate taxes </S1>
<S6> corporate tax </S6>
<S1> corporate tax </S1>
<S6> for companies </S6>
<S1> for companies </S1>
<S6> yeah it was about it's about er 25 per cent <S1> [25 per cent mhm] </S1> [yeah 25] is the current tax rate <S1> (thank you thanks) </S1> but we <S1> [no] </S1> [have a] well i think we have a difficult tax system <S1> [mhm] </S1> [i think it's not so] easy and also of course for the erm for the normal persons it's really hard to understand @@ it's </S6>
<S1> two per cent economic growth it's very good figure <S6> [yeah yeah] </S6> [(xx)] because of er very high (xx) [per cent] </S1>
<S6> [yeah] yeah i think when we can get the two per cent i i'm not sure that we can get <S1> [mhm-hm] </S1> [it] but i mean because they always discuss that it is too too much or erm we can't do it but i think erm when we get to 1.5 i think it's it's good <S1> alright </S1> because a high level it's it's it's really high and of course erm there are a lot of companies who think good thought- things about erm go east and erm make the products so cheaper we'll see </S6>
<S1> mhm-hm </S1>
<S7> i have a question yeah about the unemployment rate <S6> yeah </S6> that's like er 12 per cent <S6> yeah it's a lot </S6> yeah er in germany so are there many young people who are unemployed </S7>
<S6> erm mhm yeah erm i think it's it depends <S7> depends </S7> yeah it it depends erm i think there are a lot of erm people maybe the age of 50 who get out of their job because maybe erm the companies move to the east erm and erm these people are nearly unable to get a new job [it's] </S6>
<S7> [yeah so the] problem is it's not like the er er it can't be compared with france because in er france the situation is er er really isn't really good with the young people [er really] </S7>
<S6> [yeah er erm] no er i think it's it's it's worse in france erm for the young people i think but it depends also on the er i i think there are sometimes a lot of problems for the youths also <S7> [mhm-hm] </S7> [it dep-] i- it depends on which part of youth you you mean i mean then this the people who want to make an apprenticeship or the people who wants to graduate and find then a good job i think it's mhm i think for er for uh i think it's not easy to it's it's of course not easy to get a job or a good job you you want to have or your dream job it's really hard to get but i think when you are motivated then of course you can find a good job and of course it depends erm how motivated you are but of but i think we have also er a small problem with the youths because there are a lot of erm youths who or who want to make their apprenticeship erm or wh- but they didn't erm they are not really want to work because we have a good social system and i think this is one of our prob- problems we have we have a good social system so they don't have to work they a- and they will get a little piece of money and they say okay why i should do a erm sorry for this expression shit job and get nearly the same money or maybe 200 euros more erm or or get the free money from the the government but i think this is a problem and the and i think this is a point where the government have to work on yeah because i erm and i think this may be a problem i i don't know if it's erm overall in europe or overall in the world but this is might be a problem of of the erm of the youths also that there are a few or maybe not a few there there are a lot i think they don't want to work really and i think this yeah there must be er i don't know whi- i i don't i don't know which part is the wrong part maybe it's i i think it's mainly it's a gap er between erm parents between teachers i think the that there there must be a change in the next ten years so that they that the the thinking of the youths must be different i'm i'm not sure but this is a personal meaning of course </S6>
<S7> so it's mainly an attitude problem <S6> yeah [mainly] </S6> [yeah] or our welfare <S6> yeah </S6> state @problem@ </S7>
<S6> i don't know how is how is it in finland [it's it's nearly the same or] </S6>
<S8> [er er it is] about the same </S8>
<S6> yeah i think it's the same it's and it's i hope it's not a german problem </S6>
<S3> yeah but there's er well i was as i said i was staying in o- or studying in in erm germany <S6> mhm-hm </S6> two years ago and one thing i noticed i'm like i don't know but i have this idea that the finnish erm social welfare system ga- er gives more benefits than the german one er it's just my idea but at least almost the same but erm in in germany i was in bremen i don't know if if bremen is a crazy town in in germany but i've not i've never seen so many hobos or tramps or or just people loitering in in the city <S6> mhm </S6> i mean like in the streets begging for money and stuff i me- i mean like we obviously you do have problems with the young people working <S6> [mhm-hm mhm-hm] </S6> [and unemployment] of young people but i've i mean maybe it's just that in finland it's so cold that they can't live on the street and beg for money but i i i don't know maybe maybe it's it has something to do with attitude <S6> [yeah] </S6> [attitude] as well because if you're i well perhaps the problems are the same but just that in in germany i think it's more visible <S6> mhm </S6> than here </S3>
<S6> yeah </S6>
<S7> yes but what do you think er in france the problem er <COUGH> the there are many young people that are unemployed so @the@ politicians are trying to solve this problem <S6> mhm-hm </S6> with a new working contract <S6> yeah </S6> what do you think should the german do the same or consider the same even </S7>
<S6> <SIGH> i'm not sure i think in i think in france it was more the graduates erm who wants to go and they went on the street yeah they went on the street and fight against the government plans and i'm not sure if i can i don't know </S6>
<S7> no comments [@@] </S7>
<S6> [no] <S7> okay </S7> yeah i'm mhm </S6>
<S3> there was just one other thing <S6> [yeah] </S6> [that i] wanted to ask you <S6> [yeah] </S6> [about] you mentioned er in the beginning of your <S6> [mhm-hm] </S6> [presentation] that there are some problems with foreigners or <S6> [mhm-hm mhm-hm] </S6> [foreign nationals] in germany erm when i was in bremen i i al- also noticed <S6> [mhm] </S6> [that] and er af- after that what was it a year ago when the young people young and er not french people were revolting in france and then in bremen they burned cars as well that's what they were doing in france do you think that the situation might be improving or changing towards some direction or is it just always gonna be the same </S3>
<S6> erm i hope and i mean in my opinion that the erm the situation will erm will getting better because erm the government at the moment and talks ab- erm talks a lot about this topic and erm they have some plans to do it i in my opinion in the right way erm they want to make not a test not a not an interview or something like that but erm i think it's and for and for the first step it must be in this way that erm the the foreigners who want to live in germany have to learn the language have to know something about living there ha- or have to erm get in the erm erm social life and i think this is the most prob- erm the most biggest problem and i think erm i think we can handle it but , i'm not sure and i think it must be more , and no sorry we can't compare every foreigners erm the i think the most of them er hopefully i hope that @@ the most of them er want to live in our country and want to be a part of that and i think erm a problem are only the few persons who don't want this and i in my opinion erm it's not the best thing erm for for germany and for also for the foreigners and also for the non-f- er er original german inhabitants to keep them in our country because erm erm i have many foreigner friends but they are all er i i yeah i i don't want to be like er unf- un-foreigner-friendly person but erm erm they i i i have a lot of foreigner friends and they are every is a part of germany and this is okay but the f- and the few persons who don't do it in the right way they make so much trouble and they organise so much trouble and this is this is not good this is not good for the foreigners who live in our in our country this is not good for the germans and i think there must be some some rules for for keep them in the right way but this is my opinion of course erm , and because we have to keep these troubles as mhm yeah of course this could be er , and of course this is er th- this is of course er a a problem of the globalisation of course but i er but i think it's but i think we are not an unfriendly country to f- to foreigners i think we are we have a lot of foreigners now in our country i think when i remember the statistics <S1> eight million </S1> not er we have 7.3 million and erm in in percentages it's a little bit easier 91 per cent in our country are german and the most biggest group are the erm are the </S6>
<S1> turkey the the turkish [(origin)] </S1>
<S3> [turkish] </S3>
<S6> from erm yeah the people from turkey it's about 2.5 per cent of the of whole of whole germany is turkey and yeah but i yeah it's i i live i live i live at home in a small i live at home in the sma- in a small city with er 20,000 i'm not quite sure i think i think 20,000 and erm also in these little cities we have a lot of (problem) we have we have we have a few problem with them because they erm put the cra- criminal- criminality high and erm yeah why , yeah , how is how is the er erm foreigner situation in finland </S6>
<S3> there are none @so we only have a few foreigners@ </S3>
<S6> yeah </S6>
<S7> there are really a few foreigners in finland so , yeah </S7>
<S6> yeah it's future @@ <S1> mhm-hm </S1> yeah okay </S6>
<S1> thank you <S6> you're welcome </S6> i think ten minutes i think ten minutes only or 15 minutes or do you want to continue in presentation are you prepared almost do you want all weekend or want it for tomorrow [or] </S1>
<S3> [(xx)] i think it's better </S3>
<S1> [oh you oh] </S1>
<S7> [and and] there's four of <SS> [mhm yeah] </SS> [them well] i've some bits and pieces but </S7>
<S3> yeah because i i have erm something er the history of [finnish economics sorry] </S3>
<S1> [we have we have i think] we have 15 minutes er 15 [minutes] </S1>
<S7> [yeah] i think it would be better <S1> [is it] </S1> [to] take this tomorrow <SS> mhm yeah </SS> because @i have finland and it's really like a@ a whole package of finland tomorrow </S7>
<S1> uh-huh and er </S1>
<S2> yeah @tomorrow@ </S2>
<S1> tomorrow <S2> yeah </S2> and you tomorrow </S1>
<S3> [er well] </S3>
<S8> [yeah we] we have also a thing for finland i think we it's better to give <S1> uh-huh </S1> them [at the same time] </S8>
<S7> [keep them together] </S7>
<SS> yeah </SS>
<S1> but then we can spend five ten minutes in dicu- er er discussion if you want well my question is er <S6> mhm-hm </S6> er how is it with er how is it is it difficult to s- to set up a business in germany <S6> @@ </S6> or your er what about red tape or bureaucracy </S1>
<S6> erm yes it is @@ okay i never have set up a business @but@ i think there are erm there's a lot er a lot of bureau- <S1> [bureaucracy] <S3> [bureaucracy] </S3> </S1> <S7> bureaucracy </S7> bureaucracy yeah @@ and erm i think this is i think also a big erm or it must be a big goal for the government to keep down this erm but i i've done an apprenticeship in a in a bank and erm i was also worked for i think two months er two month in a in a set-up team and there are opportunities for set-up and for for make your own business in germany and also they offered a lot of erm credits for for them but i think it's yeah it's it's not easy to get these credits and to get these credits for a low for a low rate erm it's i think it's i think it's near i think it's harder i think in than in czech i i don't know <S1> yes </S1> i think it's much harder i'm not sure </S6>
<S1> mhm , and er as regards my presentation have you any questions or comments er er yes </S1>
<S6> yeah erm i have a question erm can you give a pro- propose how the wages are maybe how erm <S1> wages </S1> yeah wages and taxes can erm can be developed in the next years erm because it must be of course erm because of the U- EU globalisation erm and also the level from er czech will be grow up in the next ten years or whatever and erm and of course cou- couldn't we have couldn't we happen that erm the companies would move more east <S1> yes </S1> it could be happened yeah <S1> yes </S1> they that they move from czech <S1> yes yes </S1> yeah </S6>
<S1> we have only two things er in two examples it was , (xx) i think (xx) , but nowa- nowadays it's problem it's philips <S6> mhm </S6> factory production of er monitors they shut down it and it they produced only i think two three years only <S6> yeah </S6> and and they bankrupted and one one i think japanese er factory moved to the east </S1>
<S6> moved to the east </S6>
<S1> and it's ri- risk and it it's riskier but but it's competition strong competition er as regards taxation tax taxes are lower in <S6> [yeah] </S6> [(slovakia)] and er , but er but but we have from 1998 we have a government programme er how to promote foreign investments <S6> mhm </S6> and there are very good er commissions for instance of foreign investors they have they have er . tax vacations or how do you call them the first five seven years they er don't pay er taxes income taxes income tase- taxes but and er infrastructure is given for their disposal for symbolic one crown for instance and they have building site er water supply electricity yes all is prepared and it's for their e- ex- er disposal and er there are some er subsidies for n- new new job for new newly created job or s- subsidies from government again and it's go very it it's programmed and er the one , one one requi- er requirement is that you have to invest during given two three years i think ten million dollars ten million only it is not so much for some er international companies yes ten million dollars and some people are afraid of the future because when these advantages will finish some of er of companies can move to the east to russia to ukraine and . yeah and er you mentioned wages [the question o-] </S1>
<S6> [yeah yeah because they] were all </S6>
<S1> an average wages er er are approximately 19,000 cr- czech crowns er p- per month but it's difficult to and again and and when you count it or when you transform it into euros it's difficult to compare because our er general level of prices is lower yes and er bad problem is that 65 per cent of workers are below this average 60 60 and but only on the top there are the best er the best earnings the highest earn- earnings are in er banking system and and er insurance companies yes there are on the top the top managers are very good paid and er <S6> (xx) </S6> and er we wasn't accustomed to social differentiation and nowadays it's hi- higher or deeper and deeper gap between er social groups and it's deep s- somebody , er family with two children they have only only for instance 20,000 crowns per month and some managers they they earn er 50,000 crowns 100,000 crowns a month and international companies they are paid very good er it's in millions due per per month per month and the differences are growing and maybe it could er it could initiate in the f- in the future some social turmoils <S6> mhm </S6> unrest unrest yes <S6> (yeah it could) </S6> because people are not accustomed on it and similar problems could be in the USA i i think that the difference between the lower wages and salaries and the highest lawyers or (xx) and so on it was 20 years ago it was one to 40 and during 20 years from 1980s now this gap this difference is one to four er 400 yes and i- a- also in in the USA it could be problem <S6> mhm </S6> because but it's other culture ot- other tradition yes they but in europe it's dangerous these social differences </S1>
<S6> and in my opinion the wages must be well in- increased they er will be inc- will increase in the next maybe ten years in the czech republic and also the prices will of course will increase <S1> yes yes yes </S1> the same and so maybe the difference will be getting higher and higher between erm hopefully not hopefully not but it could happen that erm there are there are a few , erm poorer people maybe who don't erm erm who who who don't or who do not join the the grow-up of the of the czech republic and i think this could be a reason why the czech's people are so scepticism scepticism <S3> sceptical </S3> @sceptical sceptical okay@ </S6>
<S1> we can ask we can ask </S1>
<S6> @yeah it's now on the tape@ sceptical [yeah] </S6>
<S1> [but] we we have we have very good figures as regards er poor poor peop- people or how it is called as poor is approximately only f- eight per cent <S6> [under] </S6> [of from] whole whole population </S1>
<S6> under the poverty line or </S6>
<S1> ye- yes yes there is some official <S6> mhm-hm </S6> poverty line it's it's only eight per cent in slovakia they er they are in front of us as regards social and economic reforms yes and they have i think maybe 15 18 per cent </S1>
<S6> i think germany have 13 <S1> how </S1> 13 </S6>
<S1> 13 </S1>
<S6> 13 i [think] </S6>
<S1> [13] uh-huh </S1>
<S6> yeah but this is good er and i think this is an important factor which erm the czech republic must be keep keep down of course because erm the every every czech must be a part of that growth or not everybody but you know average </S6>
<S1> have you any suggestions or , if you want we can finish for today yes and we will continue <S3> tomorrow </S3> tomorrow and (xx) rest of our presentations and er when when it is time i can open my er presentation and i'll go and have this and and you can use the such as for instance topic this problem we will discuss in the end this problem this problem because we we we have to discuss also business er business environment this this and then this problem all of you thank you </S1>
