World Economy and Policy, 2026 (vol. 2026), issue 1

Articles

Pedal to the Metal: Natural Gas Prices and the Czech Automotive Industry

Michal Hrubý

World Economy and Policy 2026, 2026(1):1  

How do changes to the real price of natural gas following a supply shock impact the automotive industry? This paper examines the volatility of European natural gas prices and its transmission to output and prices in a case study of the Czech automotive industry. Despite an immediate drop following the supply shock, production recovers quickly and increases over the medium term. Producer prices increase immediately and then gradually return to their baseline. I document large heterogeneity between car, body, and parts producer prices. The body producers actually face downward price pressure at the end of the horizon. Moreover, producer prices respond...

Comparative Welfare Governance under Digital Transformation: The Role of Digital Inclusion and Ageing in the Czech Republic and the Republic of Korea

Natálie Všetýčková

World Economy and Policy 2026, 2026(1):2  

This article offers a comparative policy analysis of welfare governance in the Czech Republic and the Republic of Korea under conditions of demographic ageing and digital transformation. Rather than treating economic efficiency as a directly measured outcome, the article interprets it through a combination of three complementary indicators: social expenditure, digital e-government capacity, and human development. The analysis is based on a descriptive-comparative design using secondary data from the OECD, the United Nations, and the UNDP for the period 2013-2023, with EGDI observations available for 2014-2024. In this article, the generational dimension...