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• A Journey Through the Theory of Economic Development

  Lavinia Sidonia Delcea

  Views:

  110

  The theory of development economics changed signifcantly from the first attempts of defining the concepts in the 50s until nowadays. The contributions to the development theory are at the same time closely related to the historical context of the underdeveloped and developing countries. This paper tries to facilitate the understanding of the way development economics evolved, by presenting the main contributions to the theory. The research methodology used in this study is analytical, based on the gatherinf of the information, its organisation in a logical way, the presentation and analysis of the most significant ones, and finally the drawing of relevant conclusions. The main findings of this paper are that after five decades of strong ideas and recipes of economic development we have reached a point of uncertainty regarding what is beneficial or harmful for the nations' economic development.

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) classification: O10.

• Global Value Chains and Upgrading – Experiences of Hungarian Firms in the Machinery Industry

  5-22

  Andrea Éltető

  Anikó Magasházi

  Andrea Szalavetz

  Views:

  244

  Global production networks and global value chains have become widespread today. In these cases firms locate the various stages of their value adding activities across different countries. The activities of global value chains form a new phase of globalization characterized by fragmented production, transfer of technology, and decreasing transport costs (Kaplinsky 2013). Developing countries are involved in these production networks, perceiving this as an important (if not the only) way to develop. The Central European countries have taken an active part in the chains of multinational firms since the nineties. The benefit derived from this participation varies across sectors and firms. In this article we analyze the experiences of Hungarian companies in the machinery industry. The structure of the article is the following. After a description of the basic research question and methodology, a literature review is provided. In the following section we introduce the companies surveyed and review their product-, process- and functional upgrading experiences. Finally, we discuss our findings and suggest some managerial and policy implications.

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) codes: F23, M21

• Possible solutions of the purchasing power parity puzzle, improvements of the theoretical model

  61-78.

  Andrea Szabó

  Views:

  136

  Purchasing power parity (PPP) is one of the most fundamental theories in international economics. However, its empirical validity is still controversial, an issue referred to in the literature as the purchasing power parity puzzle. This paper summarizes the different explanations for the empirical failures of the PPP, and proposes steps for improvements in the theory by focusing on the importance of using appropriate empirical methodology when confirming or rejecting the PPP hypothesis.

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) codes: F31, F41

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

  127-142

  Zsuzsanna Kiss

  Views:

  109

  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

• Economics or economic science? A XX. század legfontosabb eredményei

  76-97

  Jozsef Moczar

  Views:

  146

  The fundamental question of this article is: wether the economics is science, and if it is, then can it be viewed as an independent science? The answer is looked for starting from the most
  important economic results of the last century. The author came to the conclusion that the mainstream economic theories of our days can be traced back to the works of Ramsey, Neumann and Haavelmo. The results of mathematics and natural sciences, especially physics greatly contributed to that it became science. All these are 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

• Quantophrenia? – Some remarks on the possibilities and constraints of mathematical formalization in economic and social sciences

  5-18

  Istvan Musto

  Views:

  111

  This article deals with some aspects of the constraints to the formal mathematization of economic theories and models. It points out that complex, dynamic and open systems dispose of a memory so that past events, statements or beliefs, even if they have turned out to be wrong or untrue, exert a potentially significant influence on the present state of issues, so they cannot be completely substracted from models representing reality. Reference is also made to the fact that in such complex, evolutionary systems strong interdependences and interactions exist between the subject and the object of scientific inquiry since economic actors strongly influence each other and, consequently, aggregate reality through their mutual actions and expectations. Furthermore, it is argued that the comparability of findings is highly dependent on the identity or dissimilarity of the initial conditions of the objects of economic research. The article does not take a position either for or against mathematical modelling; it limits itself to comments on some of the conditions of meaningful formalization.

  JEL classification: A1, B10, B41, C10

• Monetary Impacts and Overshooting of Agricultural Prices in Hungary

  39-49

  Zoltan Bakucs

  Views:

  113

  This paper employs the theoretical model developed by Shagaian et al. 2002, to analyse the response of various sectors of the Hungarian national economy to changes in the money supply. Johansen co-integration and vector error correction methodology is used to test whether agricultural prices overshoot their long-run equilibrium path if a monetary shock hits the system. Our results emphasise that agricultural prices do adjust faster to changes in macroeconomic conditions, in particular money supply, than industrial prices, thus affecting relative prices in the short-run; however, strict long-run money neutrality does
  not hold. The result is that flexible sectors of the national economy, such as agriculture or services, bear the burden of adjustment, with significant consequences for farms’ viability.

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) classifications: C32, E51, P22, Q11.

• Methodological challanges of digitalization in business education: Digitalization in business education

  62-83

  Zsuzsanna Kispal-Vitai

  Views:

  381

  University education has to persevere in the 21^st century in a changing environment. The knowledge that is to be obtained seems to increase with the advancement of technology. The development of science and the changing needs of the job market demand continuous development and more efficient university curricula. This article investigates the effect of technology on education efficiency; it describes and evaluates several teaching approaches. The conclusions tend to turn towards the direction that although obtaining information became considerably easier than even ten years ago, knowledge still has to be learned the same way as before. The neurobiological process of learning is the same as a hundred years ago.

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) codes: A20, A22, A23

• The influence of intra-industry trade on adjustment costs and the synchronisation of boom cycles

  61-82

  Laszlo Erdey

  Views:

  111

  For researchers studying intra-industry trade and the methodology involved in measuring the phenomenon one of the most important driving forces was the assumption that the creation of economic integration would lead to lower adjustment costs than were characteristic of the traditional commercial model. Another result was that - according to empirical data - intra-industry trade would receive a strong incentive from liberalisation, and that the accompanying adjustment costs would be lower than in cases there there was specialisation bewteen branches. In so far as this is demonstrable, proponents of attempts to achieve general integration offered a convenient weapon to their opponenets, who consistently argued back that it was precisely the difficult application of this process and its drawn-out and 'painful' nature that caused high costs. The first part of the article is devoted to a discussion of this debate, while the second part focuses on the role intra-industry trade plays in harmonisation with business cycles. The article shows that an examination of the intensity and dynamism of intra-industry trade allows a much more sophisticated analysis of a country's position in the world economy than is usually possible.