Judging the Sustainability of Czech Public Finances

The position of Czech public finances has been pronounced unsustainable by economists, while politicians claim more or less the opposite. Correct judgment is complicated by the purposeful use of arguments by the two groups in disagreement, by use of different methodology to collect the data and above all, by the fact that there is no precise benchmark for measuring the sustainability. My work attempts to surpass those complications. It attempts to shed more light on Czech public finances sustainability and to present further arguments, presenting Czech public finances in widest international context possible and using comparable, samemethodology based data, as well as different approaches and angles public sector can be looked upon. The analysis suggests that concerns of economists about the future development of Czech public finances are legitimate.Public Finances; Sustainability index; Budget process; Fiscal illusion; Deficit bias; Factor analysis; Open-ended expenditures