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Engl. Zsfassung u.d.T.: A long-term vision of the Slovak society development

The aim of this article is to explore main linkages among the participation rate, potential output and pension funding system. Based on the existing literature, there are several possibilities how to render the current set-up of the pension system sustainable. This sustainability is conventionally regarded from the perspective of provision of "satisfactory level" of retirement pensions as well as from the perspective of general budgetary impact. In this respect, demographic change is accounted for owing to the common perception that it has a lot to do with how the future pension system should and will look like. It has been found out that if appropriate economic policy measures -- targeting mainly labour market participation rate and long-term unemployment -- are adopted, no need for abrupt changes in the existing social security system framework is actually necessary. Also, the linkages between the participation rate and potential output seem to be relatively strong, so that the economy could be easily considered as significantly influenced by its labour market. The functioning of the latter thus seems to be pivotal for the resolution of some long-term economic capacity concerns, including its dynamics. Adapted from the source document.

The cAreworkers 2016 survey maps the situation of women from Slovakia providing elder care in Austria at the time of the survey or those who were providing care in Austria at least until 2013. The purpose was to establish where the carers are employed in Austria, what employment forms they use, how frequent is their commute to Slovakia, how did they find their current work, what kind of care do they provide, which means of transport they use, whom they take care of in Austria and under which conditions. Other sections of the survey focused on the decision to start working in Austria, on the family background and their care responsibilities before working in Austria. The survey replicates the cAreworkers 2011 survey and broadens its scope by questions about life after the return from Austria for those care workers who were no longer active in elder care provision and were living in Slovakia at the time of the survey.

The conventional view of the sustainability of social development is based on the works of the Roman Club, particularly the book "The Limits to Growth" by Donella Meadows and her colleagues (1972). In their opinion, the human population and economy are depleting the wealth of the Earth and pollutants and wastes are burdening the environment. However, the concern that mineral resources will be depleted is unsubstantiated. Environmental economics argues that a higher number of people and a higher income make resources scarcer on a short-term basis. For investors and entrepreneurs, higher prices represent an opportunity and an incentive to search for solutions. Many of them will not succeed in this search and they will bear the costs on their own. However, in a free society, the solutions are eventually found. And in the long run, we are better off thanks to the new discoveries than if the original problems had never occurred. Adapted from the source document.