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

  5-30

  Pál Czeglédi

  Views:

  227

  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:

  157

  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:

  156

  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:

  111

  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.

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

  85-103

  Levente Nadasi

  Views:

  143

  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

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

  3-21

  Julianna Csugány

  Views:

  175

  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

• A technológia szerepe a gazdasági növekedésben, ágazati megközelítésben

  61-74

  Domician Mate

  Views:

  114

  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.

• A gazdasági növekedés gyorsításának esélyei Magyarországon 2030-ig

  5-26

  Peter Mihalyi

  Views:

  121

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

  61-75

  Eszter Siposne Nandori

  Views:

  118

  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

• Az európai növekedési potenciál eróziója

  5-23

  Peter Halmai

  Views:

  94

  The potential growth rate in the EU Member States has been declining and lagging behind their competitors since the 1990's. Due to severe productivity problems in the EU (first of all the significant decrease in the total factor productivity dynamics) and the insufficient adaptation to the processes of globalisation, further remarkable and permanent decline in the potential growth rate is expected. Paradoxically the potential growth rate might decrease in the long run to a greater extent in the new Member States. As a result of the present global economic crisis new risks might appear. The riskss of the recurrence of shocks are significant. These factors project further erosion of the European growth potential. Integrated structural reforms and a comprehensive review of the European model are needed in order to overcome the unfavourable trends and put Europe on a more favourable growth path than the one indicated in this study.

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) classification: F15, F43

• 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:

  390

  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.

• Chance for a more liveable Hungary

  5-18

  Laszlo Csaba

  Views:

  100

  This study examines the question of how successful the transition of Hungary in social fields has been over the last two decades. It comes to the conclusion that, besides the successes in the economy and the deficits in the social spheres, the reserves of the first one and a half decades are approaching exhaustion. The accession to the EU creates a chance, but not a guarantee, for the next period to be a success. The challenges for the country are very different in 2007 from what they were in 1995. For this reason we try to show directions for sustainable growth and more fruitful social politics.

• The role of franchise as a governance form in the economy

  59-83

  Anett Flaskar

  Views:

  169

  Today franchise is becoming an increasingly common form of governance. Its popularity can be explained by the fact that a company can quickly expand and develop with the help of this business model. The franchise system affects the whole economy positively because it creates jobs and contributes to GDP. The paper is concerned with analyzing the role of franchise networks in the US economy which is considered to be the home of franchise, and also in European economy. Surveys, published by the International Franchise Association and the European Franchise Federation, provide information about the number of units, employment, payroll, the value of economic output and contributions of franchised networks to GDP. These data indicate that the franchise sector is playing a more and more important role in the economy, outperform other sectors, and considered to be the main engine of employment and economic growth.

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) codes: D22, L14

• Tőkepiacok nyolc új EU-tagországban – látszat- vagy valós fejlettség

  183-198

  Balazs Palosi-Nemeth

  Views:

  101

  A tanulmány arra keresi a választ, hogy mi az Európai Unióhoz frissen csatlakozott, volt tervgazdaságú nyolc ország tőkepiacának valós szerepe és lehetősége. A szerző bemutatja, hogy – bár a gazdasági növekedés szempontjából kívánatos a vegyes pénzügyi közvetítés, így a bankrendszer mellett a tőkepiac hatékony működése – a pénzügyi globalizáció hatásai miatt a vizsgált országok tőzsdéinek fejlődése nem lehet párhuzamos az általános intézményrendszer mélyülésével. A tanulmány a szabványosított piacok szerepének kiemelése mellett különböző alapvető stratégiákat is elemez.

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) kód: F36, G14, G15

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

  3-30

  Pál Czeglédi

  Views:

  243

  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

• Chile and the Global Depression

  132-146

  Andrea Postenyi

  Views:

  124

  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

• The dynamic of Hungary's Agro-Food Trade in the Global Economy

  26-35

  Imre Ferto

  Views:

  105

  We analyse the evolving pattern of Hungary's agro-food trade using recently developed emprirical procedures based around the classic Balassa index and its symmetric transformation. The extent of trade specialisation exhibits a declining trend; Hungary has lost comparative advantage for a number of product groups over time. The indices of specialisation have also tended to converge. For particular product groups, the indices display a less persistent pattern. They are stable for product groups with comparative disadvantage, but product groups with weak or strong comparative advantage show significant variation. The results reinforce the finding of a general decrease in specialisation but do not support the idea of self-reinforcing mechanisms, emphasised strongly in much of the endogenous groeth and trade literature.

• Klasszikus és keresztény erények a gazdasági növekedés szolgálatában: McCloskey, Deirdre N.: Bourgeois Virtues: Ethics for an Age of Commerce. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, 2006, 616 oldal

  185-188

  Pal Czegledi

  Views:

  117

• Some economic aspects of higher education quality

  14-30

  Peter Levente Lakatos

  Csaba Mako

  Views:

  292

  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

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

  145-168

  Tamas Borko

  Views:

  108

  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

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

  101-116

  Dora Zolcsak

  Views:

  143

  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

• 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:

  122

  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.

• 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:

  92

• A német transzferrendszer mint a gazdasági visszaesés okozója

  Agnes Orosz

  Views:

  172

  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

• Eastern-European education and economy

  73-82

  Janos Timar

  Views:

  107

  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