Search

Search Results

• The geopolitical and geoeconomic importance of regional development

  3-13

  Tibor Tokes

  Views:

  350

  A területfejlesztés mint tevékenység a történelem folyamán összekapcsolódott az állammal, és az folyamatosan jelen van a gazdaság és a társadalom életében. Egy ország gazdasági teljesítménye, gazdasági stabilitása determinálja annak geopolitikai szerepét és jelentőségét. A 21. század első évtizedében az államok közötti konfliktusok rendezésére alkalmazható eszközök átalakultak, az egyes országok gazdasága lett az a fegyvertár, mely segítségével az államok az új típusú, hagyományos erőszaktól mentes háborúikat, azaz a „gazdasági háborúkat” vívhatják. Ennek következtében a területfejlesztés eszközrendszerével is kibővült a fegyvertár, így e tevékenységnek kétségkívül van geopolitikai és geoökonómiai vonatkozása is. A tanulmány ezeket a területfejlesztés, a geopolitika és a geoökonómia közötti összefüggéseket igyekszik vizsgálni.

  JEL kódok: F59, O29

• Efficiency and resource allocation: the Hungarian managed health care system

  42-55

  Gyorgy Jona

  Views:

  264

  The managed health care system (MHCS) was introduced and applied in Hungary between 1999 and 2009. The gradually expanding system covered only 22% of the population and included exclusively the curative-preventive health care, subsidy on medicaments, subsidy on therapeutic appliances and the spa service. Like anywhere else it was cost-effectiveness that was expected from the MHCS without the adverse effect in the quality of the health service. To decide whether the MHCS was successful in Hungary or not, we compare it with the results of those segments of the health system where the MHCS was not introduced. We use the method of the incremental cost analysis. We are making our comparison exclusively on the basis of health economics aspects, because no difference has evolved in the quality of the medical attendances. We will see that where the MHCS was applied, the medical attendance became cheaper, at those places where the MHCS was not applied the medical attendance became more expensive, causing a chronic financial deficit (137785 million HUF). Although the MHCS managed from less money, it gained 17767 million HUF during the mentioned ten years. We are going to present the general features of the MHCS and support the fact that the outcome of the managed care concept was rationalized and the savings in several segments of health care, by means of empirical evidence.

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) classification: I150, I180, G220, G320, H520.

• The VAIC™-based efficiency of intellectual capital and quantile panel analysis of profitability in the Visegrad countries and Romania

  146-166

  Mirjam Hamad

  Tibor Tarnóczi

  Views:

  156

  The aim of the study is to examine the efficiency of intellectual capital in companies from the Visegrad Four countries and Romania. The study investigates the development of intellectual capital efficiency in large companies from five countries, focusing on the components of the VAIC indicator. Furthermore, using panel regression, the study analyzes the impact of the elements of the VAIC indicator on profitability indicators considered by investors. The results of the research indicate that most of the independent variables have an impact on profitability indicators. The effect was stronger for companies with lower profitability indicators, while smaller changes were observed in companies with higher profitability. Additionally, it was found that human capital had the greatest impact on profitability.

• Presentation of economic and socio-cultural impact analyses of the Opera festival of Miskolc

  114-130

  Viktoria Kundi

  Views:

  256

  The article presents research into the economic and socio-cultural impact of the Miskolc Opera festival. It explores how a cultural event – which was created thanks to conscious urban development – can operate in a city with an industrial past and a stagnant economic situation. After the methodology and desk research, the tourist facilities of the city are analyzed. In the following sections of the paper, the results of primary research are presented.

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) classification: Z130

• Economic Freedom and the Process of Economic Growth: An Empirical Analysis Based on a New Measure

  5-30

  Judit Kapás

  Pál Czeglédi

  Views:

  880

  This paper, relying on a conceptualization of economic freedom in terms of kinds of government actions, develops a new measure of economic freedom. However, this is not art for art’s sake; instead, it allows us to provide an explanation for how particular institutions of economic freedom enhance economic development, a view upon which scholars agree. We develop two concepts related to economic freedom, namely the freedom-compatible and freedom-non-compatible institutions and use them as tools in an analysis of the process of economic growth, especially the relationship between economic freedom and long-run income. The major argument is that freedom-compatible institutions are primary determinants of income, while freedom-non-compatible institutions depend upon them and are partly the outcomes of the growth process itself, a fact which is explained by the Misesian theory of interventionism. Our regression analyses support our theoretical insights.

  JEL Classification: B53, H10, O10

• The power of path dependence? State capacity and autonomy in East Central Europe during transition

  154-168

  Zoltan Adam

  Views:

  337

  The paper examines development of state capacities and autonomy in East Central Europe during transition, and attempts to establish a relation between state characteristics and trajectories of economic transformation, especially with regard to privatisation and FDI. The assertion is that the quality of state capacities and the degree of state autonomy, although changing over time, mutually reinforces the formulating of economic policies, and hence in structural transformation. Thus, state characteristics are important determinants of transition outcome, but are themselves affected by structural economic changes.

• Political budget cycles: fiscal cycle effects in state expenditures in Poland

  47-62

  Agnes Halasz

  Views:

  301

  In this paper we aim to investigate what kind of role fiscal cycles played in the development of the state budget balances in Poland between 1989 and 2011. Overall, the results of the latest research have found that political budget cycles (PBC) are more typical in less developed countries with a shorter period of experience with democratic institutions, such as the post-socialist transition economies. Nevertheless, empirical studies point out that this phenomenon has been disappearing over time as voters learn how democratic institutions and political manipulation operate. However, this theory could not be proved by testing the pattern of Poland, neither in the case of budget balances nor for state expenditures. Despite the fact that some fiscal cycle effects were found in public sector wages and pensions in the election period of 1997 and 2001, these proved to be temporary, and simultaneously some other measures were identified that counterbalanced the effects of pork barrel spending. Overall, the cyclical evolution of the budget balances in Poland, particularly in the nineties, was not a result of political budget cycles.

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) classifications: D72, E62, H3

• The development of companies producing alternative protein end-products

  3-23

  János Szenderák

  Views:

  257

  Excessive consumption of animal-based protein has led to a significant negative impact on the environment and human health. Companies producing alternative protein end-products aim to produce substitute products that are similar to conventional animal-based products with less environmental impact. In this research, 955 alternative protein companies were analyzed using descriptive methods. The results revealed a significant increase in the number of companies after 2015, indicating high industry potential and an increasing global focus on sustainability. Plant-based products dominated the production structure because they were more appealing to consumers and may reach price parity sooner. Current food systems are unsustainable. Thus, although some factors still hinder the market uptake of alternative proteins, a shift towards a more sustainable food system is inevitable in the future.

• Nyugdíjreform-dilemmák – jövedelemelosztási arányok és makropénzügyi egyensúly

  5-32

  Laszlo Antal

  Views:

  252

  The paper aims to outline the main relations and critical points of the pension system which make the reform of the whole system inevitable in near future. The most important cause stems from demographic change: in the developed countries average life expectancy is rising rapidly while the number of births is diminishing. This results in rising retirement outgoings and decreasing revenues from superannuation taxes. In addition to this medical expenses are increasing due to the development of treatment methods. In contrast, in Hungary the average life expectancy will only increase after 20-30 years. The main problems of the distributive systems are rooted in the particular characteristics of the political change following the collapse of communism. The level of employment decreased dramatically and there are many tax arbitrage opportunities. In addition nowadays 90% of employers tend to retire on a pension before retirement age. These factors make the main distributive system unsustainable. Additionally the elderly dependence rate will double in the next few decades. Parties debating a socially and financially sustainable main distributive system agree on the inevitability of an increasing role for self-provision and a cut in the growth in expenditure. The pension system will not be able to keep pace with growing wages, to guarantee insurance principals and a minimal income in old-age, and to meet the requirements of long-term financing at the same time, especially not in the period of demographic changes.

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL): I38, J11, J26 

• Emigration or staying at home? The role of loyalty in migration decisions

  3-21.

  József Golovics

  Views:

  272

  This paper investigates the reason behind the modest level of international migration in the presence of vast development disparities and low mobility costs. It is argued that this can be explained by the psychic aspects of migration. In the applied approach, psychic costs are not included in mobility costs; instead, they arise from the interconnectedness of people and their altruist attitudes. The study claims that this kind of psychic connection, defined as loyalty, may play a more important role in migration decisions.

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) codes: D01, D03, F22

• Regional netwrok cooperation

  115-130

  Marietta Kiss

  Views:

  249

  The current study aims to reveal the regional network cooperations - found primarily in the construction industry -, in particular in the Észak-Alföld Region. The study includes three main parts: after the industry analysis of the construction industry a short summary follows about the theoretical bases of today's business network cooperations, clustering, and such relationships especially among firms operating in the construction industry, and finally it is closed by a case study revealing the relationship network of a dominant construction company of the Észak-Alföld Region. The most important finding is that in Hungary clustering in the construction industry - that has already existed in several developed economies - has not started yet, however, networking - that can be the basis for the development of a construction industry cluster - has already began, and if it continues, it further increased the advantages already experienced.

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) classification: L140, L850

• The shift from Office to Customer Oriented Culture: the Case of the Hungarian Post: Liberalizáció és szervezeti változások a postai szektorban

  143-158

  Eva Farkas

  Maria Petrovics

  Views:

  395

  The case study is conducted within the framework of organizational change and organization innovation, and examines the changes in knowledge requirements and the alterations caused by the liberalization generated by the Magyar Posta Zrt. The study focuses on the transformation of official attitudes, the make up of the required knowledge and how organizational changes have facilitated the development of a customer-oriented organizational structure. Based on the interviews conducted, the conclusion is that the process of “providing service ex-officio” has not yet been completed, but the employees are increasingly becoming involved in a client-centred approach. On the management level the preservation of the hierarchy and the status quo have more importance than the expression of the new organizational values.

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) classifications: D23, M14

• Integration of the CEE agri-food sector into the EU: What does trade theory and empirical evidence tell us?

  62-77

  Imre Ferto

  Views:

  294

  The article provides an overview on the main results of empirical research into the Integration of the CEE agri-food sector into the EU. Contrary to early expectations, countries in the region have not become major agri-food exporters. We can observe great diversity in trade specialisations, the patterns of intra-industry trade and price and quality competitiveness among countries and major product groups. These outcomes derive mainly from the differences in relative factor endowments and the different initial conditions of the countries concerned. The recent theoretical and empirical developments in international
  trade may help us to better understand the agri-food trade integration of new member states.

  JEL classification: Q12

• Are business relationships institutions?

  105-119

  Tibor Mandjak

  Views:

  281

  The question is simple; the answer could be quite complicated. Inter-organisational marketing researchers define business relationships as interactive exchanges between two organisations. Does this mean anything for institutional economists? A business relationship is created by weaving actor bonds, resource ties and activity links. Business relationships exist and change through time. The establishment, development, maintenance, as well as termination of a business relationship all require investments from the participating parties. A business relationship does not exist in an isolated manner, but other market and non-market actors can equally influence it. In reality, numerous other relationships and actors affect business relationships. As a result, these actors indirectly influence business relationships through the change in behaviour of one of the parties within the business relationship. These directly and indirectly affected relationships create a business network. For an organisation business relationships have different functions. External resources needed
  for operation and value creation are fed by them. Value creation for the customer and value sharing with the customer take place in business relationships. They are forms of an organisation’s interdependence. A business relationship is a special form of governance of the partners’ mutual efforts. A business relationship has its own value for each organisation. Each organisation has several business relationships, each with different value. In business markets,
  where buyers are always organisations, the business relationship portfolio is the market itself. Inter-organisational marketing researchers use very different theoretical foundations to study business relationships. Modern contract law based research distinguishes about a dozen norms of behaviour in business relationships. Institutional economic-rooted studies argue that we should use the plural-forms approach (price, authority and trust must be employed together) to explain these very complex phenomena. Research using communication theory concluded that multiple periods of business negotiations were required to develop even primitive norms. The paper concludes with some elements of a possible answer to the title question.

• The institutional background of factoring

  71-96

  Zoltan Nagy

  Views:

  254

  The article examines the Hungarian financial institution system from the point of view of factoring. In the interest of clarifying concepts, the article compares the judicial and economic use of the concept, introduces the intermediary system, the banking system, and the financial institution system. It outlines the contradictions in institutional regulations relating to factoring and the history of the development of regulation in the financial sector in Hungary from the 1970 to the present. Besides presenting the deficiences in the regulatory system, the article suggests several alternative modifications to the Law, thus highlighting the significance of factoring. In this analysis the author deals with both international and national practices, which can both be used as a basis for future legal regulations, providing answres to the questions raised in the article concerning the institutional structure.

• Ensuring the scientific supply at the Doctoral School of Business and Management Sciences at the University of Debrecen

  114-125

  Laura Mihály-Karnai

  Dániel Fróna

  Views:

  250

  Doctoral schools play a key role in training the next generation of researchers and renewing higher education. This study presents the operation, development directions, and international embeddedness of the Doctoral School of Business and Management Sciences at the University of Debrecen. It provides an overview of trends in student enrollment and degree completion, as well as the multidisciplinary and international character of the doctoral program. Special attention is given to the 2025 International Scientific Days conference, where 118 scientific presentations were delivered on topics such as digitalization, sustainability, and artificial intelligence. The study also highlights the significant growth in the doctoral school's publication performance, particularly in terms of internationally indexed, high-ranking academic journal articles.

  JEL code: A23; I23; O30

• Role of the organizational factors in the success of Hungarian SMEs

  108-125

  Aniko Almasi

  Views:

  1073

  This paper analyses the success of the Hungarian SME sector from the aspect of competitiveness, innovation, organizational background and the role of the leader/owner. The author summarizes the organizational innovation specialties of the SMEs based on four empirical researches and own case-study. The conclusion is the organizational innovation characteristically fades into the background of SME operation, development purposes and strategy. The role of the firm owner-leader is essential in these topics. Meanwhile the inflexibility of the organization, loyalty of the employees, labor market disadvantages, the knowledge level and competency of the human resources, its effect on the efficiency are often limit the expansion. These factors have significant influence on the success and competitiveness of the company. Therefore, the paper analyses the organizational innovation and background according to the company success, and the leader-based decision-making procedures, and processes, and evaluates the results of secondary research based on these. The novelty of the empirical research method is the search for GAPs between the leader and the organization and their correlation with success and attitude towards innovation.

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) codes: M14

• Development of the Russian securities market

  56-74

  Sandor Rethi

  Views:

  225

  The Russian securities market, considered relatively modern, came about within a year or two in the first half of the nineties without any antecedents and tradition. Parallel to the formation of the institution system both the stock and the bond market underwent a rapid expansion, which continued steadily up to the outburst of the financial crisis in 1997/1998. The collapse in August and September 1998 was followed by a relatively long stabilization period, and later security prices began to increase again and bond prices also levelled off. The current paper analyses the last decade of the Russian securities market, introduces its phases, gives a detailed description of the road leading to the crisis and collapse examining the peculiarities in a comprehensive way.

• Empirical analysis of the relationship between the attitudes of domestic researchers and their economic results

  20-38

  Laszlo Szigethy

  Views:

  270

  The study analyses the attitudes towards intellectual property management and innovation attitudes of researchers in Hungarian public research organizations and the different types of economic results they achieve in an empirical way by pointing out the close relationships among them. During the analysis, a form of researcher typology will be developed based on clusters which were formed by the attitudes of researchers. The principal components
  were created from the attitude variables and served as dimensions. The research is primarily aimed at testing two hypotheses. On the one hand, these researcher clusters have significantly different economic characteristics and on the other hand, the cluster which has the most favourable attitudes in terms of the economic exploitation of research results has the greatest economic performance. In the course of the research the results basically confirmed both hypotheses.

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) classifications: O32, O34, D01

• On the interconnectedness of the skill-premium concept

  175-188

  Peter Foldvari

  Views:

  213

  The skill-premium concept, and its interconnectedness with technological development and international trade, has become an important area of economic research in recent decades. The aim of the present study is, using the latest academic work in the field, to bring together the most important theoretical developments and to serve as an introduction to the subject.

• Knowledge Export in Higher Education: A Hierarchic Approach

  35-48

  Jozsef Beracs

  Views:

  278

  The role of higher education in economic growth is increasing parallel with the development of the knowledge industry. The export income from student mobility estimated by some experts exceeds 40 billion US dollars worldwide. In this paper we discuss two aspects of the phenomenon. First, higher education as an industry is more complex than simply student mobility. This is true despite the fact that this mobility is the most visible and most attractive part of the export activity. There are research outputs of universities and other service activities which are classified as exports and which are offered in market based systems. Second, the individual professors - whether employees of universities or freelance knowledge workers - university departments, faculties, universities, countries, regions, etc. could serve as the subjects of the statistical measurement of activities. All of those activities which are carried out by universities can be measured in different hierarchical systems.

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) classification: F14, M31

• Competitive adavntages: Theory and corporate practice

  51-70

  Gabor Hovanyi

  Views:

  313

  The competitive advantage achieved by a company basically influences its profitability and market position. The article shows that in addition to this the evaluation has many other criteria, and the management must consider these when defining competitive adavantage. The study explains that as a result of the acceleration of technological and economic development, the globalization of economic processes, and the evaluation of networks of interdepedence, the management have to face new types of competitive advantage. To choose between these the management has to consider competitive vulnerability. Following this the article attempts to summarize the basic law of the theory of competitive advantage, before introducing the most important management techniques for the selection of competitive advantage. Finally, the study emphasizes that the key factor in  achieving a competitive edge and the success of different management techniques is the CEO, and through the model of the "CEO's personality pyramid" it explains the requirements that the manager has to meet.

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) classification: O30, O32

• The possibilities and impossibilities of Hungarian public debt

  26-42

  Laszlo Torok

  Views:

  567

  The topic of the present study is the hypothetical, ex ante nature examination of Hungary’s gross consolidated public debt. The study defines the most important concepts and correlations, the judgments on the different degrees of public debt, the development of the Hungarian public debt, its main stages and characteristics. The study then presents a macroeconomic framework, which can predict the future output values of the public debt commensurable to GDP, depending on the parameters of the main explanatory variables. The establishment of input values of the main macroeconomic aggregates, as endogenous variables, is based on the author’s extrapolation and other empirical studies. Applying these, the values of the future public debt rates can be forecasted. The present study intends to show that the explanatory (economic) variables currently have well established values, which, if inserted into the chosen macroeconomic forecasting framework, show that the Hungarian public debt compared to GDP can be reduced to the desired 50 percent level. As the result of ten scenarios a more or less pessimistic, but in the case of one scenario, an optimistic, picture emerged concerning the future state of gross public debt.

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) classifications: C53, H68

• The timing of the EMU accession

  45-62

  Laszlo Jankovics

  Views:

  475

  Following the Eu-accession the next major challenge is the preparation for and finally the introduction of the single currency for the Central Eastern European countries. In this paper, I analyze the legal, economic and political factors regarding the preparedness of the whole region, with special emphasis on Hungary. After taking the pros and cons of the official "as soon as possible" strategy into consideration, we can conclude that there is no convincing case for further postponing eurozone entry. Additionally, putting off the date indefinitely or ambiguously could result in growing economic uncertainty and dangerous financial instability. In the case of Hungary, it is very likely that the country would suffer serious loss of reputation and credibility were it to put off the target date a second time, i.e. beyond 2010. Lack of strong political commitment could unfortunately easily lead to a postponement of the adaption of the single currency. The potential implication might well be debated, but no doubt would be serious in terms of reputation and economic development.

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) classification: E42, E58, F33 

• The development of regional policy in the European Union: reforms and conflicts

  88-102

  Zsuzsanna Tron

  Views:

  264

  In the European Union the discussion of each budgetary period sees fierce debates about the structural expenses and their distribution. The paper presents a summary of the principles of those involved, and tries to catch them in the policy making of Brussels. In the first half of the paper the necessity of regional policy and its theoretical foundation are examined touching upon the so called convergence and divergence theories. This is followed by the discussion of the conflicting interests and motifs shaping the regional policy. The final question is whether the expenses of the Structural Funds can be justified in view of the processes and results shown.