Search

Search Results

• The Effect of the Economic Crisis on Income Poverty in the Southern Great Plain Region

  61-75

  Eszter Siposne Nandori

  Views:

  132

  The paper examines the effect of the economic crisis and the related negative economic phenomena on the income poverty of those living in the Southern Great Plain region. The regional income poverty is examined using the poverty measures based on the income data of workers and wage earners. I then analyse how economic performance affects poverty measures. The analysis proves that not only the economic growth of the given county, but also the economic performance of the neighbouring counties have an effect on the poverty rate. Economic growth, however, is not enough to reduce the depth of poverty; therefore other measures to improve the conditions of the poor are also required. In the end, the spatial autocorrelation is examined in the Southern Great Plain region.

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) classification: I32, R12

• Classical liberalism, democracy, and economic growth: a hypothesis about the Lipset hypothesis

  5-30

  Pál Czeglédi

  Views:

  263

  Does economic growth create democracy, as suggested by the proposition known as the Lipset hypothesis? According to this paper, for the Lipset hypothesis to be valid, it is sufficient for an ideological and a technological condition to be fulfilled. The ideological condition is that the political agenda-setting ideology should be classical liberalism, which can be characterised as combining an aversion towards democracy with a positive assessment of economic and civil liberties. The technological condition is that the country in question should be advanced enough in the technological sense, because in such a country there is no economic growth without innovation maintained by a free market for ideas. Logit regressions run with panel data show that in the period up until the early 20th century a higher per capita income increases the probability of a democratic regime change, but afterwards it does not. The explanation is that before the early 20th century the two conditions were met, but they were not met in those countries that were about to become democratic after the first two decades of the 20th century.

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) codes: D70, O11, O43

• European economic growth and carbon dioxide emissions

  45-60

  László Szigethy

  Views:

  176

  The study focuses on the short-term effects of economic growth on carbon dioxide emissions. The research relies on panel data from the European Union member states. Based on carbon dioxide emissions-income elasticity, the study reveals wide differences in the growth rate of emissions, depending on whether the member state was a former socialist or a highincome country. The research also finds an asymmetric effect between periods of economic growth and recession in respect to emissions.

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) codes: Q56, O44

• Interdependence between government redistribution and economic growth in the long run

  132-146

  Levente Nadasi

  Views:

  174

  The present paper aims to study changes in the degree of government redistribution with an institutional, historical, statistical and model-like approach. I investigate the impact of changes in redistribution on long-term economic growth in 30 European countries. It is generally stated that government spending/GDP ratio has been continuously increasing (in terms of trend) in Europe since the 1870s. I examine how the size of the states affects economic growth, and what other factors influence the long-run relationship between these two variables. My hypothesis is that in developed countries with high government
  redistribution it has been an impediment to economic growth in the long run. Finally, I illustrate this hypothesis with a statistical analysis of 30 European countries.

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) Classification: E66, H62, C10

• Szerződési szabadság és gazdasági növekedés az átmeneti országokban

  95-114

  Pal Czegledi

  Views:

  138

  A tanulmány a verseny gazdasági növekedésre gyakorolt hatásait vizsgálja, középpontba állítva a verseny szubjektivista (modern osztrák) felfogását. Legfontosabb következtetése az, hogy a verseny a vállalkozói felfedező folyamaton keresztül tud a legjobban érvényre jutni. Ennek alapján amellett érvel, hogy a versenynek eme aspektusa a gazdasági szabadsággal mérhető, és az átmenti országok esetében ennek nagyobb a szerepe, mint a fejlett és fejletlen országokban. Az elméleti következtetést a tanulmány panelelemzéssel támasztja alá.

  JEL (Journal of Economic Literature) kód: O12, O17, L14.

• Empirical analysis in the context of economic, technological and institutional development: the distinction between innovator and imitator countries

  3-21

  Julianna Csugány

  Views:

  204

  The driving force of economic growth is technological progress, which can be realized in two ways at the aggregate level. On the one hand, it can be a result of independent research and development, i.e. it can be realized in an innovation-driven manner. Alternatively, it can be the result of an adaptation from other countries, i.e. through imitation, which is a strategy that many countries employ successfully today. In both cases, it is the institutions, including both their formal and informal elements, which create the opportunity for technological progress. The aim of this study is to differentiate between the innovator and the imitator countries in order to highlight the differences in their institutions. The classification is done by a cluster analysis of countries, which is performed with the help of a technological and institutional environment index constructed by a principal-component analysis. The analysis confirms that economic, technological and institutional development are closely linked in the countries studied.

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) codes: O31, O33, O43

• Chile and the Global Depression

  132-146

  Andrea Postenyi

  Views:

  139

  The 2007-2009 economic crisis ended an exceptional, five year-long economic boom for Chile and other countries in Latin America. The most beneficial economic outcome of the upswing was the fundamental improvement of the region’s countries in terms of the current crisis, which greatly reduce these countries’ vulnerability to external economic shocks. Based on the previous assumption several economists shared the opinion that “This time things are different”. That is, the fate of the continent in the current crisis will be decided differently as the global downturn has barely affected the region’s economic indicators. However, from September 2008 it has become apparent that the continent’s economy remains vulnerable. The crisis, which has infected the real economy through multiple channels, has reached two major victims of the recession, - Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe – leaving them with a decline in GDP per capita and the slowdown of economic growth. Conversely, Chile experienced a decline of a lesser extent due to its structural reforms and was able to re-orientate to its previous growth path much quicker than the rest of the continent’s economy after the ending of the crisis.

  JEL classification: O54, H12, O20

• ipari forradalom, avagy a modern gazdasági növekedés gyökereiről: A „miért éppen Anglia?” helyett a „miért történt meg egyáltalán?” kutatása (Joel Mokyr: A Culture of Growth. The Origins of the Modern Economy. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University

  103-108

  Judit Kapás

  Views:

  413

  Joel Mokyr gazdaságtörténész munkássága nem csak saját szakmai közösségében, de a közgazdaságtan más területein kutatók, elsősorban az intézményi közgazdászok között is széles körben ismert. Azonban széles szakmai ismertséggel jellemezni Mokyrt valójában „gyenge” állítás, hiszen kétségtelenül ő ma az egyik legjelentősebb gazdaságtörténeti kutató, egyike azon keveseknek, akik nagyon erős intézményi közgazdaságtani megközelítéssel „nyúlnak” a történelemhez. Kutatásaiban az ipari forradalom Európája áll a középpontban, amely a modern (tartós) gazdasági növekedést2 hozta el az emberiségnek. Mokyr fél tucatnyi könyvben és nagyon sok cikkben vagy könyvfejezetben fogalmazta meg azokat a kérdéseket, amelyek új gondolkodási utakat nyitottak a modern gazdasági növekedés okainak kutatásában, s természetesen válaszokat is adott ezekre.

• A technológia szerepe a gazdasági növekedésben, ágazati megközelítésben

  61-74

  Domician Mate

  Views:

  134

  Ebben a rövid munkatanulmányban elsősorban a gazdasági növekedésben bekövetkezett változásokra koncentrálok. A kutatások1 során egyrészt arra a kérdésre keresem a választ, hogy ezek a változások – a vizsgált, 1976 és 2007 közötti időszakban – az úgynevezett teljes tényező-termelékenység (TFP) és a fizikai, valamint humán tőkeállomány változása miként járultak hozzá a kibocsátás növekedési üteméhez. A számításokat – a növekedés számvitel (growth accounting) alapján – néhány OECD tagországra vonatkozóan, illetve a technológia intenzitása szerint megkülönböztetett gépgyártási szektorokban végzem el. E mellett a panel regressziós módszertan segítségével azt vizsgálom, hogy a beruházási ráta és a foglalkoztatás alakulása hogyan befolyásolja ezekben az ágazatokban az egy munkavállalóra jutó kibocsátást (termelékenységet).

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) kódok: E25, J24, L16.

• Political leadership and economic growth: Do the leaders matter? A vezető személye számít?

  101-116

  Dora Zolcsak

  Views:

  171

  The paper analyses the role political leadership plays in economic growth by reviewing the literature that argues for, or presents evidence on, the proposition that leadership and the leader him/herself are crucial factors in economic growth. The article considers institutional economics as a starting point, a field which, so far, has paid little attention to the role of individuals and only focuses on the significance of institutions. The institutional theory of economic development has been criticized for using endogenous indicators and for only emphasising political output. However, political leaders are also able to make good and efficient economic policies. That is the reason leaders do matter

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) Classification: B3, O4, P48

• A gazdasági növekedés gyorsításának esélyei Magyarországon 2030-ig

  5-26

  Peter Mihalyi

  Views:

  136

  The regime change in 1989/1990 has not produced the expected result: Hungary has not been able to catch-up with the Western market economies. Can Hungary grow 2-3 times faster then its competitors during the next 20 years, as the present Hungarian government declared in its economic plans? Can Hungary improve its relative position and catch-up with the per capita GDP level of the EU-27 average by 2030? The conclusion of the paper is that this is very unlikely to happen. But there is ample room for accelerating productivity growth, and in this regard, every percentage difference counts enormously in the long-term. Three factors of production are analyzed: the natural-physical-geographical endowments of Hungary (N), Labour (L) and the capital stock (C). The following new findings are discussed. First, contrary to the widely held view, the amount of labour currently used by the Hungarian economy is not low in international comparison. The education of the workforce is also adequate. The problem is its allocation: too many workers are employed in low productivity, small firms. The only way forward is to promote the concentration of enterprises, to support the increase in the number of medium-sized and large firms. Second, the rate of domestic savings needs to be increased considerably, to allow for a low-cost financing of investments. In turn, this requires a substantial reform in three areas: healthcare, pensions and higher education. As long as the welfare state exists in its present form and these three spending items are largely financed by the state, one cannot reasonably expect households to save and accumulate families" long-term reserves in financial assets. But before these changes happen the political alite must accept that the obstacles to productivity growth have to be removed from the legal and political stuctures.

  JEL classification: E66, O47, O50, O52

• The examination of the relationship between foreign working capital investment and economic growth on the basis of European examples

  150-166

  Eva Nagy

  Views:

  122

  In the past decade several studies have been published in Hungary as well on the role of foreign working capital investment and the economic effects of the presence of multinational companies. This paper explores what role working capital investments (their type, size etc.) have played in the transformation and modernization of Hungary and in her integration into world trade. After a short theoretical and historical survey it presents the experience of some European countries which the literature often mentions by comparing them to Hungary, for on the basis of their size, population, geographical location and level of economic development they have often met similar economic policy dilemmas and choice-making. Then it examines what effects foreign working capital influx had on the given economies and - ina wider sense - on their social development, and in addition, what kinds of undesirable consequences it had.

• Eastern-European education and economy

  73-82

  Janos Timar

  Views:

  117

  The main reason for the inability of the Eastern-European region to catch up economically is thought by many to be the fact that for a decisive period the state curtailed the incentive power of private property. The harmful effect of this was aggravated by the arms race. Contrary to this, this paper claims that the main reason is the underdevelopmnet of the population's knowledge base. The direct factor in this is the mistaken education policy, which because of the emphasis on quaility in schooling, imparted a low and weak knowledge base to the growing generation. The author claims that without a general and radical reform of education the eastern European region and Hungary as well, will lag behind in international competition.

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL): I21, I28, O15

• Some economic aspects of higher education quality

  14-30

  Peter Levente Lakatos

  Csaba Mako

  Views:

  314

  Based on the world's most renowned university rankings, OECD annual reports and Eurostat data, this paper seeks to demonstrate that a competitive economy requires competitive (higher) education and that there is a significant correlation between the quality of higher education and economic development. Furthermore, in this process, the higher education quality assurance organization system has an outstanding task and responsibility through the formation of quality culture, guidelines, helpful research, summary of good practices and making constructive suggestions. Finally, it points out that close collaboration between universities and agencies with stakeholders is a priority area, which could contribute to a much more capability-based output system in the longer term. It also considers it desirable to make the relationship between universities and scientific research networks and research institutes closer and more vibrant (where it is not).

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) codes: H52, I22, I23, I25, I26, O15

• Economy of Austria

  125-148

  Kitti Vass

  Views:

  159

  In my article I examine a member state of the European Union, the open and federal Austria, which can be considered as an example of a corporate economy. During the reconstruction period following the Second World War the Austrian economy was characterized by a frantic economic expansion. After the oil crisis, an incomparably low inflation rate and low unemployment, and the more dynamic than average economic growth attracted attention to the country. Due to the intensified external economic interest, the Austrian model - namely the economic policy and establishment - was widely studied at this time. However, at the beginning of the 1980's some structural problems appearing in the economy contributed to slowdown in growth, until the political changes of the year 2000, which finally brought a new favourable turn in economic policy. I start with an examination of Austria's economic status after the Second World War, then the development, changes and role of the Austrian social partnership. I go on to analyze today's Austria from the point of view of the sustainable balanced budget, focusing on the financial circumstances of the state, such as the complex financial connections derived from federalism.

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL): H62, H63

• The Development of Growth Accounting Techniques in the Mirror of Economic Growth

  85-103

  Levente Nadasi

  Views:

  160

  In this article we present the development of certain growth theories that model the main sources of growth. Since the elasticity of substitution – one of the most important parameters of production function – is not unity, as the Cobb-Douglas production function assumes, it can be different from a value of 1; hence we need a more general CES-type (Constant Elasticity of Substitution) production function. Another important question is the classification of factors of production. The elasticity of substitution is an efficiency factor as well, thus it receives special attention in the analysis. Finally we summarize the main papers that are mainly concerned with growth accounting, and try to answer the question of which factors play a significant or less significant role in economic growth. Growth accounting is strongly connected to growth theories so we refer back to growth theory at certain points.

  JEL classification: E13, O47

• The suspicion of Dutch Disease in Russia

  103-124

  Tamas Borko

  Views:

  192

  The main statement of the paper is the suspicion that Russia carries the symptoms of Dutch disease. The main justifications behind it are the appreciation of real exchange rates, the deterioration of the performance of the manufacturing sector and the improvement of service sector results. However it is difficult to prove the determining factors behind these processes, so the conclusion that Russia has this ailment has to be treated with caution. As the Dutch disease is only one of the determining factors of the resource curse hypothesis, in the case of Russia other relevant aspects may also play a significant role, such as, inter alia, continuous and considerable corruption, the weaknesse of democratic political system, a protectionist economic policy and a low level of competition, especially in the energy sectors. All of the reasons behind the paradox of the plenty type resource curse phenomenon, and among them the Dutch disease, can jeopardise long-run growth sustainability.

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) classification: F31, L60, L72, Q32, Q33

• Technológia és szervezeti innovációk kölcsönhatása: az e-munkavégzés elterjedésének példája Új munkavégzési formák, mint az új fejlődési pályák hordozói?

  47-68

  Csaba Makó

  Miklos Illessy

  Views:

  141

  A kilencvenes évtized ún. transzformációs gazdaságaival foglalkozó társadalomtudományi vitájával összehasonlítva meglepő, hogy a XXI század elején viszonylag szerény az érdeklődés a poszt - szocialista
  gazdaságok új fejlődési útjainak vizsgálata iránt. Elemzésünk célja a közép-európai régióban fejlődő piacgazdaságok új fejlődési útjainak azonosítása. Pontosabban: szeretnénk felhívni a figyelmet a globalizálódás, az információs és kommunikációs technológiák gyors elterjedésének és a különböző típusú piacok deregulációjának kontextusában megjelenő tudásgazdaságba való bekapcsolódás lehetőségeire, illetve azok kihasználását elősegítő és korlátozó néhány tényező szerepére. A tanulmány három részből áll. Az első, bevezető fejezetben az ún. transzformációs gazdaságok fejlődésében jól kimutatható különböző fejlődési ciklusok jellemzésére vállalkozunk, jelezve az ún. bejárt úttól való függés és az ún. intézményi vákuum megközelítések szerepét az átalakulási folyamat megértésében. Ezt követően, az elemzés röviden jellemzi a közvetlen külföldi tőkebefektetések (FDI) vezérelte gazdasági modernizáció fontosabb eredményeit (pl. foglalkoztatás, termelékenység növekedés, export, keresetek és az innováció) és olyan problémáit, mint a gazdaságfejlődés aszimmetrikus jellege. Az új fejlődési pálya tartalmát, „tanuló gazdaságba” való bekapcsolódással valamint a kiegyensúlyozottabb gazdasági szerkezet létrehozásával azonosítják a szerzők Az utóbbival összefüggésben, a tanulmány a mikro-, kis- és középvállalati (KKV) szektor szerepének felértékelődését hangsúlyozza. A tanulmány második és harmadik része, a nemzetközi kutatási tapasztalatokra építve jelzi a közép-európai gazdaságok, ezen belül a magyar gazdaság részvételének lehetőségeit a gyorsan fejlődő tudásgazdaság globális értékláncában. Az elemzés felhívja a figyelmet arra, hogy a régió poszt - szocialista gazdaságai viszonylag vonzó célterületei az olyan nagyobb hozzáadott értékeket képviselő tevékenységek kihelyezése
  számára, mint az általános üzleti funkciók. Mindazonáltal, e kedvező pozíciók több szempontból is törékenyek. Egyfelől a globális értékláncra jellemző változások gyorsak, és a tanuló-innovatív szervezetek kritikus tömegének folyamatos létrehozására van szükség. Másfelől, a kritikus tömeg megteremtése szinte lehetetlen az KKV - szektorba tartozó vállalkozások egyéni és kollektív (hálózati) tanulási és innovatív képességének fejlesztése nélkül. Az elemzés – szintén nemzetközi kutatási tapasztalatok felhasználásával – jelzi az olyan új munkavégzési formák, mint például a távmunka elterjedését befolyásoló szervezeti és kulturális tényezőket. Ezzel összefüggésben a szerzők az információs és kommunikációs technológiák hatékony használatát befolyásoló szervezeti innovációk, valamint az ezekhez kötődő egyéni és főleg szervezeti (kollektív) tanulási folyamatok jelentőségét hangsúlyozzák. Végül, az elemzés összegzéseként, a szerzők röviden felvázolják azokat a kihívásokat, amelyekre mind a kutatóknak, mind a gyakorlati szakembereknek, mint társadalmi szereplőknek válaszolniuk kell a magyar gazdaság új fejlődési pályára állításának érdekében.

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) kód: O33; L23;F23.

• A német transzferrendszer mint a gazdasági visszaesés okozója

  Agnes Orosz

  Views:

  184

  According to the theory of optimal currency areas the most important advantage of monetary integration is its positive effect on economic growth. However, examining Germany we can notice that since German reunification economic growth and the convergence between East and West Germany has slowed down. These facts show that the operation of the German currency union is not optimal and its performance has not improved over the last twenty years. The criteria of the optimal currency area theory is endogenous due to the recent development of the theory. This means that a country is more likely to satisfy the criteria for entry into a curreny union ex post than ex ante. In the case of Germany, examining the trends of economic growth we can conclude the the German currency union has not become optimal in the last two decades. These facts raise the puzzling question of what are the specific circumstances hindering the improvement if Germany's monetary union despite the endogeneity of the optimal currency area criteria. To answer this question the study examines the interactions between monetary and political integration with special attention to the issues of fiscal policy. According to the study the German transfer system and the dependency on transfers explain the discrepancy between theory and empirics.

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) classification: E42, E62, E63, F01, F31, F36

• The Complexity of Technological Progress: Empirical evidence in the European Union

  23-34

  Julianna Csugany

  Views:

  161

  The author examines the role of institutions in technological change on the basis of an understanding of the macroeconomic context of technological progress. The empirical study aims to demonstrate the macroeconomic relationship between economic growth, technological progress and institutions, using data from the member states of the European Union. This paper constructs a statistical model which accommodates the complexity of technological progress and contributes to the analysis of its different aspects. It concludes that the elements of the technological environment and an emphasis on the protection of property rights play an essential role in understanding the effects of technological progress on economic growth.

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) classifications: O11, O34, O43

• A reklámberuházások versenyre gyakorolt hatásának és gazdasági növekedéssel való összefüggéseinek vizsgálata

  Karmen Kovacs

  Views:

  128

  The amount of advertising investments is increasing dynamically worldwide, but returns are decreasing significantly. This is largely the consequence of growing market competition. In connection with this I analyze the role of advertising and the effect of advertising on demand and competition, then I study the relation between advertising and economic growth in this paper. I have conducted a survey among European countries to scrutinize the relation between advertising expenditures. My other assumption had to be rejected as a positive relation does not exist between GDP per capita and advertising investment rate.

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) classification: D21, E01, M21, M37

• The possibilities and impossibilities of Hungarian public debt

  26-42

  Laszlo Torok

  Views:

  374

  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 role of culture in economic growth: an assessment, criticism and paths for future research

  22-44

  Judit Kapás

  Views:

  235

  There is an abundance of empirical literature on the impact of culture on economic development. This literature has been developing at the margin of growth theory and institutional economics. This paper reviews this branch of the literature by structuring it into three main lines, and placing an emphasis on (self)-criticism directed towards it, as well. The author provides some proposals for further steps towards improving the culturegrowth empirical literature, following the two routes identified by the (self)-criticism.

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) codes: O43, Z19

• Konvergencia vagy divergencia: Tomka Béla: Gazdasági növekedés, fogyasztás és életminőség Magyarország nemzetközi összehasonlytásban az első világháborútól napjainkig (Akadémiai Kiadó 2011, 306 oldal, 4500 FT)

  Bence Egri

  Views:

  110

• Regional factors affecting the rushed and balanced growth of territorial capital

  62-80

  György Jóna

  Views:

  181

  Adapting the precepts of Kornai’s rushed economic growth theory, this paper compares the harmonic and rushed growth of territorial capital in the Hungarian sub-regions between 2004 and 2010. In the empirical analysis, the article applies the methodology of the concept of territorial capital. The empirical results indicate that the causes of the rushed growth of territorial capital can be found in underdeveloped infrastructural capital and the simultaneous development of socioeconomic inequalities. The effects of the rushed growth of territorial capital could be controlled and eliminated by adequately integrating tools of regional development, economic development and public policy.
  

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) kódok: C62, C68, Q01, R58