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• How do informal institutions affect FDI? An assessment of the literature

  71-82

  Zsuzsanna Bényei

  Views:

  159

  A number of studies have examined the determinants of foreign direct investments (FDI). Institutions can be seen as an immobile location advantage, which can influence FDI flows. The aim of this study is to summarise the empirical literature on the growing importance of institutions in FDI decisions, especially that of informal institutions. The study also suggests using another measure as a proxy for informal institutions when analyzing the impact of informal institutions on FDI.

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) codes: E02, F02

• Scarcity and Uncertainty Reduction by Institutions

  Laszlo Csorba

  Views:

  109

  Institutions are not equally able to reduce scarcity and uncertainty. If institutions were classified from this point of view we would acquire a new analyticaltool to examine institutions in the past the present or the future. Scarcity and uncertainty appear continuously and institutions can manage them only by a greater increase in individual responsibility. However, this also increases the danger of the disintegration of community. We can see this application in practice by surveying the Hungarian pension system over the past 100 years.

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) classification: A11, B52, G18, G23

• Market institutions precede market beliefs: a test with cross-country regressions

  3-30

  Pál Czeglédi

  Views:

  301

  The paper examines the literature on culture, economic growth and institutions to derive hypotheses about the relationships between market beliefs, institutions, and productivity. It then tests these hypotheses with cross-country regressions. First, it points out that each of the four cause-and-effect hypotheses of the possible relationships have an economic literature, in that market beliefs are seen as parts of culture. Second, the paper tests these hypotheses by making use of the fact that they consider different variables as exogenous ones. Measures of market beliefs are the coefficients of the country-dummies in the regressions run with individual data from the World Values Survey. The tests support the two hypotheses which hold that it is institutions, not market beliefs, that are exogenous.

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) codes: L26, O43, P16

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

  5-30

  Judit Kapás

  Pál Czeglédi

  Views:

  356

  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 Comparative Analysis of the Cultural Financing Models of France and Hungary

  50-67

  Akos Toth

  Views:

  180

  Both France and Hungary use the so called coordinated cultural financing model, in which the active role of the state is decisive. However, instead of producing a similar model, the level of the cultural sector value added to GDP in the two countries is different. The article’s aim is to answer this puzzle. The focus is on the role of institutions and state subsidy. The analysis tries to understand whether direct state subsidy plays a decisive role in the economic performance of the cultural sector. The analysis also shows whether the harmony of formal and informal institutions have a positive effect on the economic growth of the cultural sector. The assumption is that the size of direct government subsidy cannot increase economic growth. If the formal and informal institutions are in harmony, and if there is a long-run cultural policy strategy in a country, the cultural sector value added to GDP is higher.

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) classifications: Z10, Z11

• Institutional diversity and economic performance

  Silvana Malle

  Views:

  102

  Definition and role of institutions. Institutions are diverse: examples from OECD countries. Does institutional diversity matter for comparative economic performance? The problem of measurement. Do institutions tend to converge or diversify further? What are the driving forces? What did we learn from institution building in transition economies? Need for a better understanding of interactions between institutions and policies. The OECD work and
  experience. Conclusion: the need for a vision.

• 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 munkaerő-piaci intézmények hatásai a foglalkoztatásra szektorális megközelítésben

  27-41

  Domician Mate

  Views:

  162

  Recently, there have been serious debates attempting to explain the role of institutions and their interactions as they might influence the impact of economic growth on employment. However, essentially no clear theoretical consensus has yet emerged and several unanswered problems remain. From this point of view, one interesting question is how institutions matter, and also what kind of characteristics they should have in economies. In our estimations ws followed a sectoral approach to identify the main features of institutions. In order to demonstrate short and lon run economic processes we use an error-correction method to analyze how certain intitutions and their interactions determine employment growth in different market-and non-market oriented branches. All in all, we demonstrate that unions, minimum wages and unemployment benefits have influenced employment in different ways.

  JEL classification: J21, J45, E02.

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

  47-62

  Agnes Halasz

  Views:

  143

  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

• 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

• Sustainability of growth in countries with diverse backgrounds in the light of main international indices

  145-168

  Tamas Borko

  Views:

  120

  The paper tries to answer why fossil fuel abundant countries with diverse backgrounds perform differently depending on the dominance of the advantages or disadvantages accruing from natural resource wealth. With the contribution of the most popular competitiveness and institutional indices the determining factors are indentified. The distinctive factors are market efficiency, the quality of the business environment, innovative capability, the quality and efficiency of governmental, market and judicial institutions, the low level of corruption and the existence of political and civil freedom.

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) codes: O13, O17, Q32

• Trends and Tendencies in the Development of HR Departments in Hungarian State Universities

  115-146

  Jozsef Poor

  Andrea Bencsik

  Ivan Fekete

  Zoltan Majo

  Gyula Laszlo

  Views:

  305

  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

• Reflections on the Role of Institutions on the Chinese Road to a Market Economy

  49-82

  Laszlo Csaba

  Views:

  114

  At the onset of transformation there has been a close to consensus view that the market system has no alternative. While this insight has found its place in the current mainstream on development economics, the so-called Washington consensus or post-Washington consensus (Kolodko, 2000, pp.119-141 andpp. 348-356; and Williamson, J, 2000, Srinivasan, T.N.,2000), very few would venture to repeat in an academic writing the once famous dictum of Vaclav Klaus: the third road leads to the third world. Much of western Europe has remained within the framework of the welfare state, despite its obvious limitations. Also in
  the transforming economies, the rollback of the state has proven to be much less than the tough normative language adopted by early reformers would have indicated. Actually, it is the structure rather than the size of public spending in these countries that may be a source of social and economic strains by providing less than optimal conditions for sustaining economic growth.

• White collar outsourcing: phenomena of offshore outsourcing

  41-60

  Gyorgy Bogel

  Views:

  198

  Offshoring is the migration of part or all of the value chain to a low-cost location many times far from the home country. The development of information technology and telecommunications makes it possible and pressure on costs make it a must for many corporations and other institutions in the developed world. The present transfer of white-collar jobs and processes is an important trend of the infocom innovation wave. Developing countries have started to compete for outsourced jobs and business processes, business models of offshoring develop fast. It is not easy to predict all potential consequences but there will be winners and losers of this structural change.

• The Rigidity of Labor Markets and the Unit Root in the Time Series of Unemployment rate: Raising a Problem

  103-114

  Janos Kormos

  Pal Czegledi

  Views:

  140

  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

• The Concept of Innovative Fiscal Policy: Theory and Empirical Evidence

  Oliver Kovacs

  Views:

  146

  This contribution addresses the question of what are the main constituents of an innovative fiscal policy in the context of sustainability. We apply the concept of sustaining and disruptive innovation to fiscal policy. On the one hand, innovative fiscal policy is able to be sustaining whereby public finance will incrementally improve without leaving its decisive structure. On the other hand, innovative fiscal policy should be disruptive as well in the context of long term sustainability, whereby the structure of public finances can be profoundly restructured as a reaction to future challenges. By using the Finnish recovery in the early 1990s, we can refine our argument about the use and necessity of the mixture of fiscal rules and independent institutions in favour of fiscal sustainability. We also shed light on the key sources of the expansionary consolidation that emerged in the aftermath of the fiscal adjustment in the early 1990s. We emphasise that innovative fiscal policy with a mixture of legislated fiscal rules and independent fiscal anchor is more likely to be associated with sustainability if the economy has weaker growth potential which does not provide enough social trust towards the consolidation efforts of the government.

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) classification: E61, E62, Q01

• Human capital and institutions in the early models of endogenous theory of growth

  135-149

  Pal Czegledi

  Views:

  228

  The endogenous theory of growth, or, as it is often called, the new theory of growth has become a fully-developed theory within about twenty years. The original goal of the theory was to offer better explanations for facts than traditional theories. However, this was only partly achieved. If this is so, then what are the proceeds of the whole theory? The study aims at proving that though the endogenous theory does not offer a much better explanation for facts, it has deepened our understanding of economic growth and incorporated factors in the formal theory, which so far have only been dealt with by "softer" branches of the theory of growth.

• Policy (Institutional) Diversity and Economic Development

  5-31

  Daniel Daianu

  Views:

  103

  Diversity, or variety, is the essence of economic life in the sense of underlying choice; economic calculation gives numerical substance to how people make choices in their daily endeavours, either as consumers or entrepreneurs. How does variety/diversity takes shape in the realm of institutions and policy making? Is the range of choices open-ended? The last couple of decades has revealed an overwhelming offensive of the neo-liberal paradigm in
  terms of defining “best practices”. Even language was shaped accordingly with market reforms being seen in a quasi-single theoretical and policy framework. Are we heading towards increasing uniformity with regard to institutional and policy set ups, worldwide? An affirmative answer would underline the successful market based transformation of a series of command economies. Some convergence between institutional patterns in the USA and the
  EU economies might be alluded to in the same vein A supportive argument for this line of reasoning could be that what matters for individual achievement, in the end, are equal opportunities. But this argument can be turned around when debating the merits of various institutional set ups in terms of creating fair chances for people. A sceptical answer would highlight the mounting challenges which confront societies, whether rich and poor, and the international community in general –in spite of the high hopes of not long ago. The demise of the “New Economy”, the series of corporate scandals in wealthy economies and the subsequent recourse to new regulatory legislation, recurrent financial and currency crises throughout the world, and the controversies surrounding the activity of IFIs, should compel “ideologues”, of all sorts, to be more humble in their prescriptions. This essay argues that there is substantial scope for institutional and policy diversity to operate as a means to foster economic development; that there might be a paradigmatic cycle in the dynamic of economic policies.

• The welfare state as the accomplishment of modern civilization: where to proceed?

  23-45

  Judit Fekete

  Views:

  189

  The author reviews the beginnings of the welfare state and its practices so far and examines what conclusions can be drawn from experince as regards the effective treatment of current problems, what warnings the relationship between certain governments and social welfare has for us today when there is an economically and socially urging need for reducing the worsening tensions in the systems of budget-planning, taxation, social welfare, health care and education, etc. The conclusion is that a fundamentaé change in attitude, and a new kind of governmental role are needed, along with new institutions, methods and means appropriate for the radically different economic circumstances as well as the realistic social demands.

• Human Resources Management in the Changes in Hungary In the Light of Two Consecutive Cranet Researches: Két egymást követő Cranet felmérés eredményei alapján

  92-110

  Martonne Karoliny

  Ferenc Farkas

  Jozsef Poor

  Views:

  400

  Management, including Human Resources Management, has undergone major changes in Hungary since the economic and political changes of 1989. This area is even regarded as a field of continuous transformation. This study makes an effort to compare differences and similarities of specific features of Human Resources Management in Hungary in the light of two consecutive surveys, Cranet 2005 and 2008 (Cranet is an established group of top business schools and academic institutions, all collaborating to provide unique and rigorous data on human resource management practices across the world). According to these analyses, the study compares typical characteristics and practices of Human Resources Management in Hungary with major trends and tendencies of this field in 32 countries, including 6 countries from the Central and Eastern European region as well.

  JEL classification: J24, M1, M54

• The role of the voluntary unemployment insurance system in the trade union movement

  43-70

  Nora Ilona Elek

  Views:

  240

  The purpose of this study is to analyse the institutional environment of the state-subsidised, trade union-managed national voluntary unemployment insurance system (the so-called Ghent-system) that influences the selective incentive feature of this system based on the literature. Another goal is to run cluster analysis in order to show whether Ghent-countries – Denmark, Finland and Sweden – differ from other countries based on this environment. The analysis is based on Olson’s (1965) concept of by-product theory. The essence of this theory is that large groups are able to increase, maintain and thus realize their lobbying activities by applying incentives to individuals. In the case of trade unions, the availability of voluntary unemployment insurance is a significant incentive. Its impact on trade union movement is usually analysed as a dummy variable, but this article focuses on institutions that are important to the Ghent-system.

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) code: J51

• Intézményi változatosság a kapitalizmusban: Beszámoló a „Variety of Institutions under Many Forms of Capitalism” EAEPE–EMOP kollokviumról (2006. május 12–13., Athén)

  167-172

  Judit Kapas

  Views:

  105

• International Higher Education League Tables – why are the best so good?

  127-142

  Zsuzsanna Kiss

  Views:

  134

  The study provides a comparative analysis of international higher education rankings. The article aims to analyze the role and performance of universities in today’s knowledge economy in transforming employment conditions. This paper aims to add an overview of the methodology of the global academic rankings, showing the benefits and difficulties of the creation of league tables and makes a proposal to improve the distortions. It gives a detailed empirical analysis of the countries’ results based on a comparison of three rankings. Hypothesis: the performance of countries with an English native language is better because of the particularities arising from the methodology, since the results obtained from research databases involved in measurements are primarily English-language publications and their citations, and furthermore the majority of the most prestigious journals appear in English.

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) code: I21, P52

• Regions and the European integration: The Europeanization of the regions in Central and Eastern Europe

  54-68

  Jürgen Dieringer

  Views:

  103

  The process of Europeanization that is the adjustment of the national legal regulations, intstitutions and decision making patterns to the European political practice leads to the significant transformation of the national political systems. In the horizontal dimension of the state institutions this concerns primarily the relationship between the executive and the legislative powres whereas in the vertical dimension this influences the relationship bewteen the central state and the regions or provinces. The paper examines the source and durability of the Europeanization process in three Central and Easterna European countries, in Poland, Hungary and Czech Republic. Focus is primarily laid upon the institutional adjustments.

• Freedom of the Markets versus Good Governance: Experiences in Central Europe

  35-61

  László Muraközy

  Views:

  141

  The market and the state, operation and characteristics of two institutions of key importance in the modern mixed economies, are investigated for the former socialist countries in this study. After two decades it can be seen more clearly what system has been established in the region, how it operates, and what its characteristics are. In the first part of the with the help of international comparisons we examine how free the market is, how good the rules are, and how much they help, or hinder, the fulfilment of its function. From an other aspect we compare the scope of the good governance and the size, the freedom and efficiency of the state. According to the evidence of the international studies examined, the former socialist countries established the forms of the market institutional system relatively quickly, but the operation and quality of these lagged significantly behind those of the developed countries. Also important conclusion of the study is that by the first decade of the millennium the characteristics of the former socialist countries are increasingly diverging from one another. Both the characteristics of the earlier socialism, and the more distant historical past which can be caught in the act within it, had and have an effect on the economic and social systems now established in Eastern and Central Europe.

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) codes: H1, P17, P27, P35