The fundamental question of this article is whether economics is a science, and if so, then can it be viewed as an independent science? The search for an answer begins with the most important economic results of the last century. The author comes to the conclusion that the mainstream economic theories of our times can be traced back to the works of Ramsey, Neumann and Haavelmo. The results of mathematics and natural sciences, especially physics greatly contributed to its emergence as a science. All this is proven by means of Roy E. Weintraub’s so called historical reconstruction and Imre Lakatos’ rational reconstruction methods.

Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) classifications: B23, C10, C20

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

Business Intelligence is one of the fastest growing sectors of corporate informatics today. The study describes the history of the related approaches, models and applications, starting from the beginning of the last century. The most important growth engines are highlighted and the strategic role of business intelligence is explained in detail. Both the supply and the demand side of the BI market are analysed and key developments and trends are explained. Special attention is paid to explaining and modelling the intensive acquisition activity of the recent past, and to the potential consequences of the growing need for integration. New market and technology trends changing the application landscape are analysed at the end.

Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) classification: M10, M15, M40

This paper tries to take an initial step toward a deeper understanding of the differences and similarities between corporate, individual and 1% philanthropy. Though both corporate and individual giving have
a huge international literature (e.g. Adam 2004; Archambault & Boumendi 1998; Burlingame 1997, 2001; Halfpenny 1999; Schervish & Haven, 1997; Wang & Graddy 2008; Zamagni,1995) and 1% philanthropy is also discussed by several, mainly Eastern European authors (e.g. Bódi 2001; Chano 2008; Gerencsér & Oprics 2007; Török & Moss 2004; Vajda & Kuti 2002), the connections between these different kinds of philanthropic activities have not yet been scrutinized. Correspondingly, very little attention has been paid to the issues of how third sector organizations could develop an efficient ‘fund raising mix’; how they should combine their efforts to solicit contributions from different kinds of donors. In order to answer these questions, the author takes an interdisciplinary approach; she uses several different types of analytical and statistical methods. The statistical analysis of the donors’ motivation is based on the results of three empirical surveys of individual giving, 1% philanthropy and corporate donations which were carried out in Hungary over the last couple of years. The third sector organizations’ fund raising behaviour is analyzed using both official statistical data (KSH 1998–2008) and information gathered through interviews (Laki & Szalai 2004; T. Puskás 2006) and case studies (Kotler & Lee 2007; Török 2005b).

Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) code: D64, M14, L31

The complementarities of trade advantage and trade competitiveness measures for Hungarian agro-food trade with the European Union are analyzed. The stability and duration of the trade measures over time is investigated by survival analysis using the nonparametric Kaplan-Meier product limit estimator and the consistency test between the trade measures is conducted by the stratified Cox proportional hazard model. Hungary experienced a greater number of products with relative trade disadvantages and a greater significance of one-way imports. Hungary also experienced relative trade advantages for bulk raw commodities, processed intermediates, and horticulture, with the greatest significance of successful quality competition and one-way exports, and the lowest significance of unsuccessful price
and unsuccessful quality competition. The duration of relative trade advantages is longer than the duration for the successful trade competition categories. Our results confirm that relative trade advantage is consistent with the one-way export and the successful price and successful quality competition categories in two-way trade on the one hand, and relative trade disadvantage with the one-way import and the unsuccessful price and unsuccessful quality competition on the other.

Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) classification: Q12

The article is a review of the literature concerning the time series of the unemployment rate, and of the economic explanations behind the tests of these time series. We seek to identify the theoretical explanations behind a possible unit root in unemployment time series. We argue that the main difficulty faced by these unit root tests is the change in labor market institutions. The ffects of institutional changes make the traditional tests rather weak, while the panel unit root tests oversimplify the economics of the question. Our conclusion is that the possible application of the tests developed theoretically for nearly unit root processes seems to offer a way out of this dilemma.

Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) classifications: C22, E24

In the last couple years it has been fully accepted that human resource management plays an increasing role in the success of organizations, and also in the development and sustainability of national and international competitiveness (Gordon- Whitchurch, 2007). In the developed industrial countries – mostly the Anglo-Saxon pioneers – public institutions (including higher education) abandoned the normative and bureaucratic-controlled Taylor system (Karoliny et al, 2003). Beginning in the 70’s representatives of the New Public Management model, based exclusively on the effectiveness of business solutions, gained more ground. The early 80’s brought the widespread implementation of reform programs. These efforts have created models and experience that were applicable in the converging countries of Europe – including Hungary. After reviewing the latest professional literature and analyzing practices of eleven Hungarian universities we will assess the conversion of Human Resource Management and consider possibilities for modernization.

Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) classifications: I21; H19; M52;M53;M54

Since the late nineties Hungarian governments have been considering the introduction of new health care arrangements by establishing organizations with devolved responsibilities for the management of health care. These organizations are typically financed through a weighted (risk adjusted) capitation system which is regarded as an adequate and optimal tool for resource allocation purposes. Through capitation one needs to handle large inequities in the Hungarian health care system and keep an eye on the incentives for efficiency. For the capitation formula a relatively broad choice of risk adjusters are available in the form of pharmacy- and diagnosis-based patient level utilization data (health-based adjusters) and area level socio-economic data (non health-based adjusters). The instant application of health-based adjusters has limitations because they reflect a distorted provider structure and offer perverse incentives; therefore a gradual shift from using non health-based adjusters to health-based adjusters is preferred. The early phase of the capitation system also implies a strong presence of risk sharing arrangements and other complementary policies. Given that promoting efficiency and equity are to be pursued, the capitation approach outlined in this paper should serve as a guide to future Hungarian health care system reforms.

Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) code: I28, G28, G32, H51

Investigating how globalization and the new technological environment which drives and supports the integration process affect the monetary transmission mechanism, I find that the transmission mechanism is affected at every step, in a way which makes this complex linkage between economy and monetary policy even more unpredictable, strengthening the interest rate and wealth affects but weakening the credit channel and the exchange rate channel, if foreign exchange rate loans or carry trades are significant.

Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) Code: E44, E52, F42

This essay presents an overview of what American business programs cover in their curricula regarding ethics and the reasons behind teaching ethics-related material to business students. Topics for the paper
include; requirements for having ethics in the curricula, broad perspectives of what constitutes ethical business practices, and the difference between professional ethics and business ethics.

Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) classification: M14, A20