Institutional aspects of new comparative economy:: Czech Republic and European Union

The study focuses on evaluation of institutional quality in European Union countries and its possible impact on economic performance and competitiveness. The text stems from the theoretical framework of new institutional economics, especially historical and comparative institutionalism, and it bases on the concept of good governance. The source of the evaluation is the scheme of the World Bank Governance Matters, supplemented with research of other institutions working with individual institutional characteristics. Authors evaluate following characteristics - voice and accountability, political stability, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law and control of corruption, which together form aggregate indicator of institutional quality. Old member countries of European Union (EU-15) are classified into different models of capitalism according to their. different institutional quality. Institutional changes in new member countries (EU-10, eventually EU-8) in period 1996-2004 illustrate both institutional adjustment of postcommunist countries and dynamics of these changes and their convergence to different types of capitalism.