DEVELOPMENT OF INSURANCE MARKET IN SLOVAK REPUBLIC AND CZECH REPUBLIC

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1 ZN WSH Zarządzanie 2016 (4), s Oryginalny artykuł naukowy Original Article Data wpływu/received: Data recenzji/accepted: / Data publikacji/published: Źródła finansowania publikacji: The article is part of research project funded by the Scientific Grant Agency of the Ministry of Education, Science Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic, VEGA 1/0208/14 Insurance market and Insurance Companies Efficiency. DOI: / Authors Contribution: (A) Study Design (projekt badania) (B) Data Collection (zbieranie danych) (C) Statistical Analysis (analiza statystyczna) (D) Data Interpretation (interpretacja danych) (E) Manuscript Preparation (redagowanie opracowania) (F) Literature Search (badania literaturowe) Ing. Jana Masárová, PhD. A B C D E F Alexander Dubček University of Trenčín Faculty of Social and Economic Relations Department of Economics and Economy Slovakia Ing. Eva Ivanová, CSc. A B C D F Alexander Dubček University of Trenčín Faculty of Social and Economic Relations Department of Economics and Economy Slovakia DEVELOPMENT OF INSURANCE MARKET IN SLOVAK REPUBLIC AND CZECH REPUBLIC

2 344 Zeszyty Naukowe Wyższej Szkoły Humanitas. Zarządzanie ROZWÓJ RYNKU UBEZPIECZENIOWEGO W REPUBLICE SŁOWACKIEJ ORAZ CZECHACH Abstract: National insurance market, which is part of the financial market is influenced by number of factors of national economy and the global economic environment. Czech Republic and Slovakia were until 1993 part of one state, after the split, both insurance markets of independent republics under the influence of various economic and social factors started to develop differently. The aim of this article is to identify commonalities and differences in the development of insurance markets in Slovakia and Czech Republic through a comparison of selected indicators. The analysis focuses on the following indicators of the insurance market: the number of commercial insurance companies, the share of life insurance premiums written on the insurance market and the concentration calculated according to the Herfindahl Hirschman Index. Selected indicators are observed for the period during Keywords: insurance market, insurance market indicators, premiums, life insurance, insurance company, insurance market concentration Steszczenie: Krajowy rynek ubezpieczeń, który jest częścią rynku finansowego, wpływa na szereg elementów gospodarki krajowej i globalnego otoczenia ekonomicznego. Republika Czeska i Republika Słowacka stanowiły do 1993 roku jeden kraj, po podziale rynki ubezpieczeniowe obu niezależnych republik zaczęły rozwijać się odmiennie pod wpływem różnych czynników ekonomicznych i społecznych. Celem niniejszego artykułu jest identyfikacja cech wspólnych i różnic w rozwoju rynków ubezpieczeniowych Słowacji i Czechach poprzez porównanie wybranych wskaźników. Analiza koncentruje się na następujących wskaźnikach rynku ubezpieczeń: liczba komercyjnych firm ubezpieczeniowych, udział składki ubezpieczeń na życie w rynku ubezpieczeń oraz koncentracja obliczana na podstawie wskaźnika Herfindahla-Hirschman. Wybrane wskaźniki są analizowane za lata Slowa kluczowe: rynek ubezpieczeń, wskaźniki rynku ubezpieczeń, ubezpieczenia, ubezpieczenia na życie, ubezpieczenia komercyjne, koncentracja rynku ubezpieczeń Introduction Insurance is an important sector of the national economy; directly or indirectly affects all spheres of life of the state, businesses and citizens and helps to maintain economic stability of businesses and living standards of the population, which affects the development of the economy as a whole. In the insurance business, commercial insurance companies operating in the insurance market provide specific goods insurance, in order to eliminate the consequences of unexpected events in the health and life of humans or protection of property.

3 Development of insurance market in Slovak Republic and Czech Republic 345 Insurance is a social or commercial device providing financial compensation for the effect of misfortune, and the payments being made from the accumulated contributions of all parties participating in the scheme 1. The most basic function of the insurance sector is the transfer of risk. Insurance companies transfer risk to themselves to preserve the financial stability of households, especially by making long-term investments, on the other hand with the life insurance premiums they support the development of the local stock and bond markets. Insurance companies transfer risks with new tools that developed by the insurance sector also contribute to the formation of new capital 2. The insurance market as a component of the financial market is alongside providing the insurance and reinsurance function also characterized by a system of different market instruments and regulatory measures of the state. Insurance markets in different countries are evolving under influence of various factors and events which also requires the adaptation from participants of the insurance market. Slovakia and the Czech Republic were in the past part of several state formations as well as formed one state. Therefore both insurance markets in these countries had a common base and for a long time had a common history of development. After the split of the common state under the influence of various social and economic factors, the insurance market of the Slovakia and the Czech Republic started to differ. Definition, nature and characteristics of the insurance market in Slovak professional literature can be found in the works of Čejková 3 ; Majtánová 4, Grmanová 5. The question of insurance, the insurance market and its development and characteristics in the Czech Republic is dealing with authors Ducháčková 6, Daňhel 7, Cipra 8 and others. The aim of the article is to identify commonalities and differences in the development of insurance markets Slovakia and Czech Republic through a comparison of selected indicators of the insurance market. We use analysis of time series, comparison and synthesis. For comparison of the state and development of the insurance market of Slovakia and the Czech Republic, we selected indicators: the number of commercial insurance companies, the share of life insurance premiums written and the concentration of the insurance market. We are using the data provided by 1 P.K. Liedtke, What s insurance to a modern economy? The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance- -Issues and Practice 2007, vol. 32, iss. 2, pp H. Ciftci, E. Iscan, D. Serin, The interaction between insurance sector and economic growth: Turkish case, Proceedings of the 19th International Academic Conference, International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences, Florence 2015, pp V. Čejková, Pojistný trh, Grada Publishing, Praha A. Majtánová et al., Poisťovníctvo, Wolters Kluwer (Iura Edition), Bratislava E. Grmanová, Poisťovníctvo, TnUAD v Trenčíne, Trenčín 2004; E. Grmanová, Poistný trh a finančné investovanie, CROCUS, Trenčín E. Ducháčková, Principy pojištění a pojišťovnictví, Ekopress, Praha L. Daňhel et al., Pojistná teorie, Professional Publishing, Praha T. Cipra, Praktický průvodce finanční a pojistnou matematikou, Ekopress, Praha 2005.

4 346 Zeszyty Naukowe Wyższej Szkoły Humanitas. Zarządzanie the company in its database Insurance Europe. The first two indicators are compared together with aggregated (rep. average) values across Insurance Europe. We based the data from the Slovak Insurance Association and the Czech Association of Insurance Companies. For the calculation of the concentration we used the Herfindahl- Hirschman Index (HHI). The state and development of the insurance market is analysed over the period Historical development of insurance market in Slovakia and Czech Republic History of insurance is very long; the insurance relationship arose at certain stages of development of the society and is associated with the development of risk and uncertainty in social and economic activities that people are trying to eliminate. According to Palacková 9, oldest insurance relations were based on the principle of solidarity and therefore they were most often called mutual societies. A typical feature of such societies was the absence of separate management of the mutual society from the insurance fund. After the spread of trade in food products and their transportation through inland waterways it became necessary to insure transport risks. The insurance of buildings, accessories, movable goods, crops and livestock started later. Insurance against hail, life and pension insurance, burglary insurance and so on were introduced as well. During the First World War the insurance market was in depression. After the First World War with the establishment of the Czechoslovak Republic large-scale economic reforms began that have affected the functioning of the insurance market. Improved conditions led to emergence of domestic insurance companies and also to changes in the law of compulsory and mandatory insurance. The Great Depression during the years affected the insurance industry only slightly and resulted in slowing down its development. Second World War had significantly worse consequences for the insurance industry when many especially domestic insurance companies experienced difficulties. After the war, by a Presidential Decree, all insurance companies (more than 700) were nationalized. In early 1947, five insurance companies were established in the form of state-owned enterprises. In 1948 these were merged, creating one insurance monopoly - Czechoslovak insurance company, national enterprise. The natural evolution of the insurance market was thus interrupted. In 1968, as a result of forming federal state of Czechoslovakia, Czechoslovak Insurance Company was split into the Czech State Insurance Company based in Prague and the Slovak State Insurance Company based in Bratislava, where both gained monopoly for providing insurance services in their respective territories. 9 D. Palacková, Historický vývoj poistenia a poisťovníctva, Zborník z medzinárodnej vedeckej konferencie doktorandov a mladých výskumných pracovníkov DOCTUS 2006, AT-Publishing, Bratislava 2006, s

5 Development of insurance market in Slovak Republic and Czech Republic 347 Until 1989, Slovak and Czech insurance markets had been structured in a similar way, mainly due to the presence of a centrally planned economy. This mode of insurance industry operation was vastly different from the functioning of the insurance industry in countries with a market economy. The range of private insurance was strongly restricted and in each country, only one insurance company operated, offering basic insurance products for companies (mainly state owned) and citizens. These markets, therefore, functioned as solely state owned and monopolistic, which influenced the development of the private insurance sector negatively 10. After 1989, the process of transformation of the centrally planned economy to a market economy resulted into eliminating insurance monopoly and led to many legislative changes dealing with insurance industry in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. A new law on insurance was passed, state owned insurance companies were privatized, the new state institution to supervise insurance market was established and liberalization of the insurance market gave rise to new insurance entities. New market conditions have forced insurers to become more responsive to the needs of the insurance market and offer new insurance products. After the split of Czechoslovakia in 1993, the insurance market in Slovakia and the Czech Republic was developing further with increasing number of insurance companies and customers. In both countries, the associations of commercial insurers were established: Slovak Insurance Association and the Czech Association of Insurance Companies. In the following years the insurance legislation of both countries was gradually harmonized with European Union legislation. In 2004, after Slovakia and the Czech Republic joined the European Union the competition in the insurance market has intensified as both countries became open to insurance companies of other EU member states governed under the principle of so-called single European passport. The foreign insurance companies can now establish a new branch in Slovakia and the Czech Republic or may operate under the freedom to provide services. On the other hand, the Slovak and Czech insurance companies have the opportunity to offer their insurance services in the markets of other European Union countries. These new conditions brought changes in the insurance legislation in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. One of the changes affecting the insurance company was a way of reporting their solvency and the methods for testing its solvency. Insurance companies had to adapt to the new legislative requirements. One of them is the Directive 73/239 / EEC for non-life insurance sector and Directive 79/267 / EEC for life insurance. These directives govern how European Union countries calculate the minimum solvency margin and solvency test. Another is a Decree no. 497/2002 on the calculation and demonstration of solvency of insurance companies and branches of foreign insurance companies 10 Z. Brokešová, E. Pastoráková, T. Ondruška, Determinants of Insurance Industry Development in Transition Economies: Empirical Analysis of Visegrad Group Data, The Geneva Papers 2014, No. 39, pp

6 348 Zeszyty Naukowe Wyższej Szkoły Humanitas. Zarządzanie The third generation of directives in the EU insurance sector has created the need to revise the solvency requirements, which resulted in a reform approved by the European Parliament and the European Council, known as Solvency I and II. Solvency regulation in the EU has undergone only minor changes until the adoption of Solvency I in February Its implementation was binding for member states from the financial year The Solvency II Directive covers more than 30 European countries and is one of the largest projects that unifies rules on financial discipline and supervision of insurance and reinsurance markets, which is in force since In the European environment, legislative coherence between national insurance markets are growing and competitiveness is increasing. Mutual interaction and globalization is reflected at the level of national markets. However, last years were marked by large fluctuations in the financial markets and by increasing economic instability, which influenced the development of the insurance markets 11. Further development in the insurance markets of Slovakia and the Czech Republic was characterized by the growth of insurance premiums and the declining share of the dominating insurance companies. Both countries were affected by the 2008 global economic and financial crisis negatively impacting the rate of growth of their insurance markets. Despite the negative effects of the global financial crisis, both markets did not experience collapse of any insurance company thanks to legislation, supervision but particularly due to prudent investment strategy of insurance companies. The crisis however began to show indirectly through reduction in economic activity of the business sector, increasing unemployment, reduced expenditure growth of the population, which was reflected in declining sales of insurance products, higher numbers of redemptions of life insurance contracts and the reduced profitability of commercial insurance companies. In the aftermath of the economic crisis, the insurance markets have stabilized and their main indicators characterizing the level of the insurance market are gradually approaching the European average. 2. Comparison of selected indicators development of insurance markets in Slovakia and Czech Republic Development on insurance market depends on the action of various factors. The most important factors affecting the insurance market and the size of premiums written Ručková 12 considers such as economic development, financial markets development, costs development on insurance (disasters incidence), distribution chan- 11 E. Grmanová, New business and efficiency of insurance companies in the Slovak Republic, SGEM conference on political sciences law, finance economics & tourism: Conference proceedings volume II Finance, STEF92 Technology, Sofia 2014, pp P. Ručková, Vybrané faktory ovlivňující pojišťovnictví s ohledem na současnou ekonomickou situaci v ČR i ve světě, Acta academica karviniensia 2011, č. 3, p

7 Development of insurance market in Slovak Republic and Czech Republic 349 nels development (effective access to clients). As states Vachálková 13, insurance market development follows the economic maturity of the country; economic growth is a necessary condition to ensure further insurance market development. Economically developed countries are characterized by well-developed and stable insurance market. Ekonomicky vyspelé krajiny charakterizuje rozvinutý a stabilný poistný trh. The insurance markets of Slovak Republic and Czech Republic are compared on the basis of indicators: the number of commercial insurance companies, the share of life insurance in premiums written and the insurance market concentration The number of commercial insurance companies The number of commercial insurance companies is one of the basic indicators used in the theory and practice of insurance. There are more or less frequent changes occurring on insurance market such as new insurance companies creating, but on the other hand, existing insurance companies are fusing if necessary or certain insurance companies on the marketplace can be closing their business. The level of competitive environment and also the insurance market concentration depend on the number of insurance companies operating on the market and their market power. Development of the total number of domestic commercial insurance companies in SR and CR and Insurance in Europe is shown in Figure 1. Figure 1. Number of domestic insurance companies Rysunek 1. Liczba krajowych firm ubezpieczeniowych number of domestic insurance companies in SR, CR number of domestic insurance companies Insurance Europe SR CR Insurance Europe - - Source: Insurance Europe, own creating. 13 I. Vachálková, Rozvinutý poistný trh jeden z determinantov ekonomickej vyspelosti krajiny, ČASO- PIS ZNALOSTNÍ SPOLEČNOSTI / JOURNAL OF KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY 2013, č. 2, 8 s.

8 350 Zeszyty Naukowe Wyższej Szkoły Humanitas. Zarządzanie In 2004, in Slovakia there were 25 commercial insurance companies being established in Slovak Republic, in 2005 their number increased up to 26, but in the following years gradually decreased to 21 in A total of 33 commercial insurance companies were based in Czech Republic. Their number increased up to 36 (years ), in the following years decreased to 33 in In both countries the number of branches of insurance companies established in the territory of another State increased and also a number of insurance companies operating as free cross-border activity of foreign insurance companies, thus competition on insurance markets has been increasing. In countries brought together in Insurance Europe, the total number of domestic insurance companies decreased from 3,144 in 2014 to 2,719 in 2012, the following year there was a growing number of insurance companies up to 2981, in 2014 the number was The share of life insurance in premiums written Gross premiums written are considered as the most important indicator of the performance of individual insurance companies and the insurance market as a whole. Gross premium written refer to the amount of premiums customers are required to pay for insurance policies written during the accounting period 14. Premiums written are recognized separately for the life and non-life insurance. Širá 15 points out that the proportion of life and non-life insurance reveals a lot about the status and nature of the insurance market and the economy as a whole of the country. The countries with prevailing non-life insurance over life insurance are usually those with a developing economy. The inhabitants of such country underwrite mostly material items, which are important for their income security. Insurance contracts for life insurance in this case are not of that importance. However with improving economy and increased standard of living of the population, the demand for life insurance products increases. The role played by life insurance when ensuring financial means for the old age is increasingly stronger and more distinct, gradually expanding its traditional function as protection in case of sudden demise of someone close 16. Share of life insurance gross premiums written is shown in the Figure Investopedia, Dictionary, Available: 15 E. Širá, Vývoj predpísaného poistného a poistenosti na poistnom trhu v SR, Zborník vedeckých prác katedry ekonómie a ekonomiky ANNO 2012, Prešovská univerzita, Prešov 2012, p E. Ducháčková, O. Schlossberger, Life insurance and the role of financial arbitrator for the resolution of disputes within life insurance, Proceedings of the 7th International Scientific Conference Finance and Performance of Firms in Science, Education and Practice, Tomas Bata University in Zlín, Zlín p

9 Development of insurance market in Slovak Republic and Czech Republic 351 Figure 2. Share of life insurance on gross written premium Rysunek 2. Udział ubezpieczeń na życie w składkach przypisanych brutto 70 rate of life insurence on preniums SR CR Source: Insurance Europe, own creating. In Slovakia, the share of life insurance gross premiums written increased from 40.52% in 2004 to 55.75% in 2014, in 2012 the share of life insurance amounted to 57.47%. Pastoráková a Drugdová 17 explain the dynamic development of the insurance market for life insurance by the fact that the population gradually becomes more aware of environmental risks and the fact that the state social security will not be able to contribute sufficiently to future pensions. The share of life insurance gross premiums written was different in the Czech Republic than in Slovakia, in 2004 only %, increasing in the subsequent years reaching up to % in 2012 and then slightly declining in the following years to 44.87% in Looking at the countries grouped together in Insurance Europe, the average share of life insurance gross premiums written was highest in 2007 at %, slightly decreasing in the following years to 58.97%. In 2014, the share of life insurance written was %. Among the countries with the highest proportion of life insurance is Finland, Sweden, Ireland (around 80%). Whereas the lowest share of life insurance gross premiums written is in the countries such as Iceland, Latvia and Turkey (around 10%). 17 E. Pastoráková, B. Drugdová, Komerčný poistný trh v Slovenskej republike, Finanční řízení podniků a finančních institucí, VŠB-TU Ostrava, Ostrava 2009.

10 352 Zeszyty Naukowe Wyższej Szkoły Humanitas. Zarządzanie 2.3. Concentration of the insurance market The indicator of insurance market concentration according to Grmanová 18 represents the share of the largest commercial insurers on premiums written, tracking mostly 5, 10 and 15 largest insurance companies in the insurance market. In practice, the concentration of the sectors is most often measured through Herfindahl- Hirschman index (HHI), calculated as: HHI = n 2 x i i= 1 where n is the number of all insurance companies in the sector and x i is the share of i-th insurance company on the total turnover of the insurance industry.. The value of the index can move up to (100 2 ), in case the industry consists of only one company, a characteristic of pure monopoly, and the lowest value is reached when all companies in the industry are of equal size, i.e. perfect competition when no company has significant influence on the market. So, the lower the index, the more competitive the market is, and the higher the index, the bigger is the degree of concentration and market imperfection 19. Based on HHI is the concentration of insurance market measured as follows: a) If HHI > 1800, it is a highly concentrated industry b) If 1000<HHI<1800, it is a moderately concentrated industry c) If HHI<1000, it is a low concentration of the industry. Based on the data about the insurance companies in the Slovak association of insurance companies and Czech association of insurance companies we have calculated the HHI index for five strongest insurance companies in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, the development is shown in the Figure E. Grmanová, Poisťovníctvo, TnUAD v Trenčíne, Trenčín D. Tipurić, M. Pejić Bach, T. Pavić, Dynamics of concentration of insurance industry in selected transition countries of Central and Eastern Europe, Post-Communist Economies 2008, vol. 20, iss. 1, pp

11 Development of insurance market in Slovak Republic and Czech Republic 353 Figure 3. Index koncentrácie poistného trhu Rysunek 3. Wskaźnik koncentracji rynku ubezpieczeń HHI SR CR Source: Slovak Insurance Association, Czech Insurance Association, own calculating and creating. Concentration measured by the HHI index is higher in Slovakia with the exception of 2005 and The values of concentration index in 2004 and 2005 exceeded the value of 1800, which means a highly concentrated industry. In the subsequent years, the concentration index decreased to 1325 in Slovakia, resp in the Czech Republic, which means that insurance markets were moderately concentrated. Summary Insurance market plays an important role in the market economy and depends on the economic and social development of the country. Slovakia and the Czech Republic have a long common history and their insurance markets had a common starting base. According to Lhotská 20 the regional proximity is an important factor, but more important are the economic and social environment, which is reflected for example in different legislation. As far as number of insurance companies in the market is concerned, there are 10 more insurance companies in the Czech Republic, this fact is also clear from socio-economic and demographic indicators of the Czech Republic. The share of life insurance in premiums written is higher in Slovakia, where since 2008 it exceeds the share of non-life insurance. This means that in Slovakia 20 K. Lhotská, Srovnání českého a slovenského pojistného trhu 1. díl, 2012, Available:

12 354 Zeszyty Naukowe Wyższej Szkoły Humanitas. Zarządzanie people prefer life insurance while in Czech Republic the property protection (non - life insurance) prevails. In years of 2004 and 2005 the insurance markets of the Slovakia and the Czech Republic were highly concentrated. With a gradual decrease in the share of the two strongest insurance companies the market concentration index has decreased, while the Czech Republic it has lower values than in Slovakia. In Slovakia and Czech Republic the underinsurance of economy still remains. In these countries there is a significant potential for growth because of new production and market boost. Bibliography Brokešová Z., Pastoráková E., Ondruška T., Determinants of Insurance Industry Development in Transition Economies: Empirical Analysis of Visegrad Group Data, The Geneva Papers 2014, Nro. 39. Čejková V., Pojistný trh, Grada Publishing, Praha Česká asociace pojišťoven, Výroční zprávy, Available: Česká asociace pojišťoven, Vývoj pojistného trhu, Available: Český statistický úřad, Statistiky, Available: Ciftci H., Iscan E., Serin D., The interaction between insurance sector and economic growth: Turkish case, Proceedings of the 19th International Academic Conference, International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences, Florence Cipra T., Praktický průvodce finanční a pojistnou matematikou, Ekopress, Praha Daňhel J. et al., Pojistná teorie, Professional Publishing, Praha Ducháčková E., Principy pojištění a pojišťovnictví, Ekopress, Praha Ducháčková E., Schlossberger O., Life insurance and the role of financial arbitrator for the resolution of disputes within life insurance, Proceedings of the 7th International Scientific Conference Finance and Performance of Firms in Science, Education and Practice, Tomas Bata University in Zlín, Zlín Grmanová E., New business and efficiency of insurance companies in the Slovak Republic, SGEM conference on political sciences law, finance economics & tourism: Conference proceedings volume II Finance, STEF92 Technology, Sofia Grmanová E., Poistný trh a finančné investovanie, CROCUS, Trenčín Grmanová E., Poisťovníctvo. TnUAD v Trenčíne, Trenčín INSURANCE EUROPE, InsuranceData, Available: Investopedia, Dictionary. Available: Lhotská K., Srovnání českého a slovenského pojistného trhu 1. díl, 2012, Available:

13 Development of insurance market in Slovak Republic and Czech Republic 355 Liedtke P.K., What s insurance to a modern economy? The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance-Issues and Practice 2007, vol. 32, iss. 2. Majtánová A. et al., Poisťovníctvo, Wolters Kluwer (Iura Edition), Bratislava Palacková D., Historický vývoj poistenia a poisťovníctva, Zborník z medzinárodnej vedeckej konferencie doktorandov a mladých výskumných pracovníkov DOCTUS 2006, AT-Publishing, Bratislava Pastoráková E., Drugdová B., Komerčný poistný trh v Slovenskej republike, Finanční řízení podniků a finančních institucí,: VŠB-TU Ostrava, Ostrava Ručková P., Vybrané faktory ovlivňující pojišťovnictví s ohledem na současnou ekonomickou situaci v ČR i ve světě, Acta academica karviniensia 2011, No. 3. Širá E., Vývoj predpísaného poistného a poistenosti na poistnom trhu v SR, Zborník vedeckých prác katedry ekonómie a ekonomiky ANNO 2012, Prešovská univerzita, Prešov Slovenská asociácia poisťovní, Poistný trh, Available: Slovenská asociácia poisťovní, Ročné správy, Available: Štatistický úrad SR, Finančné a nefinančné korporácie. Metodické vysvetlivky. Available: Štatistický úrad SR, Slovstat, Available: Tipurić D., Pejić-Bach M., Pavić T., Dynamics of concentration of insurance industry in selected transition countries of Central and Eastern Europe, Post-Communist Economies 2008, vol. 20, iss. 1. Vachálková I., Rozvinutý poistný trh jeden z determinantov ekonomickej vyspelosti krajiny, Časopis znalostní společnosti / Journal of Knowledge Society 2013, No. 2. Author s resume: Jana Masárová Philosophiae Doctor (economics), Department of Economics and Economy, Faculty of Social and Economic Relations, Alexander Dubček University of Trenčín (Slovakia). An author and co-author of many scientific and research articles and textbooks. Fields of scientific interest: macroeconomics, economic performance of states or regions, regional disparities, road infrastructure, insurance market. Eva Ivanová Head of the Department of Economics and Economy, Faculty of Social and Economic Relations, Alexander Dubček University of Trenčín. An author and co-author of many scientific and research articles, textbooks and scientific monographies. Fields of scientific interest: competitiveness, innovation issues, regional economy and development, financial relations and insurance market. Nota o Autorach: Jana Masárová Philosophiae Doctor (ekonomia), Katedra Ekonomii i Ekonomiki Wydziału Nauk Społecznych i Stosunków Gospodarczych, Uniwersytet Trenczyński Alexandra Dubčeka, Słowacja. Autorka i współautorka wielu artykułów naukowych i badawczych oraz podręczników. Obszary zainteresowań naukowych: makroekonomia, wyniki gospodarcze państw lub regionów, dysproporcje regionalne, infrastruktura drogowa, rynek ubezpieczeń. Eva Ivanová kierownik Katedry Ekonomii i Ekonomiki Wydziału Nauk Społecznych i Stosunków Gospodarczych, Uniwersytet Trenczyński Alexandra Dubčeka, Słowacja. Autorka i współautorka wielu artykułów naukowych i badawczych, podręczników i monografii nau-

14 356 Zeszyty Naukowe Wyższej Szkoły Humanitas. Zarządzanie kowych. Obszary zainteresowań naukowych: konkurencyjność, kwestie innowacji, gospodarka i rozwój regionalny, stosunki finansowe i rynek ubezpieczeniowy. Contact/Kontakt: Jana Masárová jana.masarova@tnuni.sk Eva Ivanová eva.ivanova@tnuni.sk The contribution of particular co-authors to preparation of the paper: Wkład poszczególnych autorów w przygotowanie publikacji: Jana Masárová 50%; Eva Ivanová 50%.