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Political Economy of Fiscal Reform in Central and Eastern Europe
66-75Views:100The reform of public finances has been at the centre of the post-socialist transition of Central and Eastern Europe since the early 1990s. At various stages of the transition, the reform process encompassed the entire gamut of public finances: the national budget, sub-national finances, extrabudgetary operations, and state-owned financial and non-financial enterprises. For the most part, fiscal reform was a non-linear stop-and-go process – often characterised by backtracking as well – and was uneven across countries. Moreover, unlike most reform experience in the rest of the world, fiscal reform in this region took place against the backdrop of a radical break, as sovereign countries emerged from a colonial past following the collapse of the Soviet Union. An important milestone was reached in 2004–2007, when all ten countries covered in this article became members of the European Union. The purpose of this article is to discuss fiscal reform in Central and Eastern Europe from the perspective of political economy. Following an overview of basic reform trends, the article focuses on the principal drivers and impediments to reform in the region. To conclude, the ingredients of successful reform are examined. The article does not provide an exhaustive inventory of reform measures, nor does it offer a survey of broad political economy issues prior to or during the transition period. Country references are intended to serve as stylised illustrations of main points, rather than as a comprehensive documentation of reform episodes.
Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) classifications: H1, H3, P2, P52.
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Political leadership and economic growth: Do the leaders matter? A vezető személye számít?
101-116Views:171The 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
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Living memories of the past? The new wave of redistribution at the turn of the millenium
83-104Views:110Redistribution within the economy and the state owned companies subsidized by the government have become a major field of economics policy. The view of the daily press is misleading: it is not a brand new phenomenon. Redistribution was present during the whole transformation of the economy. The article analyses the distinctive features of a new wave started at the turn of the millennium and the central position of private enterprises showing the various methods, the ideologies providing their background and the driving forces. According to the article the factor and basic motivation of redistribution are independent of the political orientation of the ruling governments, it is only their approaches that vary. The support of domestic private enterprises is a failure concerning the direct political aims. Anf from sociological aspects it supports the old attitudes of the planned economy. We could not show clearly favourable economic effects but their chance depends on the method of redistribution. The conclusion of the article: the best support is the decrease of subsidies and the changing of the general economic possibilities into favourable ones for the players in the economy.
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Economy of Austria
125-148Views:159In 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
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Corrupt German companies? A political economy approach to German corporate scandals of recent years
97-114Views:118The paper seeks to explain German corporate scandals of recent years from a political economy point of view, adopting a 'varieties of capitalism' approach. Scandals have taken place in two realms of corporate activities: (i) in industrial relations defined by the system of Mitbestimmung that my well constrain corporate restructuring, and (ii) in export markets where corrupting foreign officials has always been a widespread practice among large exporting companies, including export-intensive German manufacturing corporations. In recent years institutional changes in domestic and international markets, including regulatory regimes, have significantly altered the set of viable options for corporate strategies. In consequence, large German companies have to adjust to new circumstances. Although the institutional underpinnings of coordinated market economies have been changing, German corporatism is not set to vanish yet.
Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) classification: P16, F55
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The joining negotiations in rapport with the EMU
75-87Views:133The study surveys the field that deals with the Eastward expansion of the European Economic and Monetary Union /EMU/ after the joining negotiations, involving the probable legal, political and economic dilemmas and problems of the introduction of euro in Hungary. The joining contract and the relevant documents unambiguosly outlining the items within the monetary integration for the Hungarian economy can be planned. It also examines the chosen monetary integration for the Hungarian economy can be planned. It also examines the chosen monetary-political systems of the candidate for membership countries from the relevant European regulation point of view, just as the possibility of individual solutions.
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The Roots of Euroscepticism in Hungary.: Economic Policy and Perceptions of the European Union in the Crisis
5-22Views:356The paper explores the relationships among three factors: economic policy, its evaluation, and perceptions of the European Union. It considers Hungary’s recent decade, primarily the years of the recent global financial and economic crisis. The analysis compares Hungary’s economic statistics and attitudes with those of other countries on the EU periphery. The main questions are the following: why and how Hungary has become a eurosceptic country? On what does the image of the EU (created in the population) depend? Is there any link between how the economic policy is being pursued on one hand, and the attitudes towards the EU, on the other? Is the evaluation of the national economy confirmed by the hard facts?
Journal of Economic Litterature (JEL) classifications: O520, Z130, P160
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The Evolution of Welfare Systems: Social Democratic and Social Autocratic Paths
46-65Views:121Students of global and regional political economy have produced a vast literature on divergent paths of capitalist evolution. The evolution of welfare systems, in general, and their different paths, in particular, have also widely been analysed in economic and social studies. The author, joining the discussions from a world system perspective, makes an attempt at presenting a global and regional political economic comparison of the seemingly similar welfare systems that have evolved in Northern and in Eastern Europe. The apparent convergence of the Sovietic type to the Nordic social democratic pattern is scrutinised, distinguishing it from the latter by the “social autocratic” label.
Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) kód: I31, I38, P36, P38
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A gazdasági növekedés gyorsításának esélyei Magyarországon 2030-ig
5-26Views:136The 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