DOCSLIB.ORG

Competitiveness and Public Finances Alternatives for Selecting Action Scenarios

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Competitiveness and Public Finances Alternatives for Selecting Action Scenarios Content Public Finance Quarterly Renewed ............................................................................. 3 PUBLIC FINANCES János Veres: Challenges to the Hungarian Economy ............................................. 5 László Parragh: Why is it Important to Modernize Public Finances and Public Services? .......................................................................................... 15 DEVELOPMENT POLICY Árpád Kovács: Competitiveness and Public Finances ......................................... 26 Péter Balázs: The Future of the European Union ............................................... 50 Mihály Varga: PPPs in Hungary - Do They Hurt Us or Help Us? ...................... 59 SUPERVISION AND AUDIT László György Asztalos: The Hungarian Financial Supervisory Authority Established 90 Years Ago ................................................................................... 74 WORKSHOP 43rd Economic Convention Sustainable Growth in the Hungarian Economy (Tamás Halm) .......................... 95 Doctoral Dissertations Encouragement of Competition – with Negotiation (Éva Voszka) ...................... 106 Transformation, Development, and Characteristics of the Hungarian Banking Sector (Éva Várhegyi) ............................................. 113 BIBLIOGRAPHY REVIEW Books One Book – Three Reviews László Antal: Can Sustainable Growth be Maintained? (István Hetényi, Péter Ákos Bod, Zoltán Török) ............................................ 120 Review of Periodicals Articles about the Pension System (I. S.) ............................................................ 132 PUBLIC FINANCE QUARTERLY Journal of Public Finance Published Quarterly Founder and Owner: Ministry of Finance, Hungary, from May 1954 State Audit Office, Hungary, since July 2005 The purpose of this journal is to offer readers a credible picture of the Hungarian domestic financial system, and - from the perspective of dominant financial interactions - significant features of public sector and national economic operations, efforts to reduce the development gap and construct a future, and related professional debates. EDITORIAL COMMITTEE: László Akar, László György Asztalos, Henrik Auth, Gusztáv Báger, Péter Ákos Bod, Katalin Botos, Attila Chikán, Pál Csapodi (Editor-in-Chief), Tamás Erdei (Co-President), Károly Fazekas, Erzsébet Gidai, Tamás Halm, István Hetényi, Tamás Katona, Árpád Kovács (President), Mihály Kupa, Tamás Mészáros, Zoltán Nagy, Éva Palócz, László Parragh, József Roóz, Iván Schweitzer, Péter Székely, Elemér Terták, Ádám Török (Co-President), Mihály Varga, József Veress, Éva Voszka EDITOR STAFF: Pál Csapodi (Editor-in-Chief), János Lévai (Senior Editor), László György Asztalos, Gusztáv Báger, Tamás Halm, Iván Schweitzer, Ádám Török (Head Columnists), Ildikó Nagy (Editor), Pálné Görgényi (Proof-Reader) No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed for commercial use in any form or by any means without prior permission of the Publisher. PUBLIC FINANCE QUARTERLY - Journal of Public Finance g Editorial Office: 1052 Budapest, Bécsi u. 5., Phone: 235-4075 g Translation and Typesetting: TYPO 2000 Llc. g Published by: Publishing House of Hungarian Official Gazettes, 1085 Budapest, Somogyi Béla u. 6., Phone: 266-9290; Responsible Publisher: dr. László Kodela, Chief Executive Officer of the Publishing House of Hungarian Official Gazettes g Printed by: The Printing House of the Publishing House of Hungarian Official Gazettes; Responsible Executive: Norbert Burján, Deputy Chief Executive Officer. g HU ISSN: 0031-496-X; 05.3075 Public Finance Quarterly Renewed The Public Finance Review (as a monthly journal) is half a century old, for its first issue dates back to May of 1954. As a professional journal, it was designed as a forum to debate practical issues, criti- cize shortcomings in financial operations, and disseminate the latest knowledge - goals set by the Minister of Finance in that very first issue. Since then, theoretical and practical specialists in charge of the world of finance have graced some fifty thousand pages in hundreds of issues. It has offered a wealth of information, raised diverse problems, conducted countless analyses, and made a myriad of proposals that contributed to the operation and advancement of the monetary and financial sys- tems, principally to public finances. Thanks to encouragement from Parliament, cooperation by a number of government and finan- cial organizations, and assistance from well-known professionals, we managed to overcome last year’s transitional difficulties (for 2005 we could not even accept subscriptions). Our joint effort has led to a clarification of the main principles under which we aspire to update and upgrade the content and thematics of the journal. Then, relying on this professional consensus, we managed to establish the ground on which to “save” the country’s only periodical that specializes in public fi- nances through a modernization that retains both its traditions and values. In 2004, Parliament passed a resolution (No. 43/2005, May 26) evaluating auditing office activity, in which it declared the need for publishing an up-to-date professional financial periodical as part of the advisory ser- vices of the State Audit Office. In conformity with that resolution, the fundamental rights to the journal were transferred to the State Audit Office. The Office, as owner of the journal, provides the conditions necessary for the editorial staff and for the editorial offices to operate in cooperation with the publisher of the Public Finance Quarterly the Publishing House of Hungarian Official Gazettes. The Publisher handles the concrete compilation, printing and distribution of the 2005 combined issue for subscription collection purposes, and accepts all related business risks. Our friend Tamás Szamek, whom we all recognized and admired as the person serving as Edi- tor-in-Chief for 25 years, and who had received prestigious professional awards for his efforts, also did everything in his power to keep the journal alive. Sadly, he is no longer with us. We are no lon- ger able to take advantage of his extensive knowledge and wealth of experience now, when the journal faces a watershed and we have an introductory (sample) issue to offer our readers. The basic goal of our renewed and updated journal of public finances is to offer a current and credible picture of the domestic financial system. The special focus is on the public sector and - as far as major financial relations go - on the significant features of national economic operations, in- teractions that influence them, goals of gap reduction and shaping the future, and professional dis- cussions supporting all of the above. As a professional journal covering a broad palette, it operates with a flexible column design. The two pillars of support are the columns on public finances and development policy. The former will spotlight issues related to the budget, financial policy, public finance issues, and will include the monetary system and systemic interactions within the financial market. It will also address the financial affairs of the business and competitive sectors and their developing interactions with the public sector. The development policy column will stress development and structural policy, 3 innovation and the transfer of knowledge, and economic relations with the European Union. Within those thematics, it will also attempt to reflect the views of larger and smaller businesses, chambers, and manager organizations. In addition, the journal will have a column for supervision and audit that is concerned with state oversight of financial markets, oversight of competition, and financial controls. A workshop column will focus on research, significant professional gatherings, and higher education. Finally, a column will offer a bibliography review of domestic publications to allow access by the international community. The journal, new in both content and design, will devote adequate space to the interactions of financial and real flows. It is also open to scientific studies that have a practical approach. Thus, the Public Finance Quarterly will have a natural audience in the financial world, the real sec- tor, the public sector, and the business sector. It will also be of use to participants in political life, students and teachers in universities and colleges, and researchers. Within the Hungarian publication we are also providing an English version. This will make in- ternational distribution possible. Such distribution is the prerequisite to having the journal cited in respected international publications, which in turn will support authors in furthering their profes- sional and scientific careers. As far as international distribution is concerned, we are counting on assistance from library ex- changes, universities and colleges, research institutes, and our nation’s foreign missions as well as from the organizations involved in the publication itself. We hope to see everyone with an interest in presenting a realistic image of our country become involved. We have altered the practices of recent years and set up an editorial committee consisting of well-known professionals, with a varied spectrum of opinions but with a common intent of co- operation, to decide upon the concrete content and professional line of this journal. On occasion, editorial committee members will serve as copy editors and, of course, they will author articles. Dele- gates from the financial and administrative organizations cooperating
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Central European University Department Of
    CENTRAL EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS MA HANDBOOK IN GLOBAL ECONOMIC RELATIONS 2018/19 40 Welcome MA program in Global Economic Relations integrates training in international relations with economics. It provides students with the knowledge and analytical skills to prepare and evaluate economic policies and strategic decision-making in a global setting. The program focuses on deepening theoretical understanding and enhancing students’ skills and knowledge in data analysis, global politics and global economic affairs. The program is designed to provide young professionals and practitioners with an ‘upgrade of skills’ with a strong focus on theoretical application and data analysis. The Department of Economics and Business of CEU is a research-oriented department with an international faculty holding PhDs from some of the best universities in the world. We offer a PhD in Economics and several Masters Programs: MA in Economics, MSc in Finance, MSc in Business Analytics, MA in Global Economic Relations and MA in Economic Policy in Global Markets. Our graduates are in high demand from both the private and public sectors; many pursue successful academic careers later on. The Department of International Relations is a center of excellence for education, training and research. It integrates international relations research with regional expertise in the European Union and the wider European neighborhood. Attention is paid to the evolving role of the EU, Russia, China, and the US in international affairs, the rise of new powers and the role of non-state actors in world politics and the global economy. The department combines international relations theory, international political economy and security studies with multidisciplinary approaches to the study of transnational, national and sub- national politics.
    [Show full text]
  • SOCIAL DIALOGUE and the EXPANDING WORLD the Decade
    Lajos Héthy SOCIAL DIALOGUE AND THE EXPANDING WORLD The decade of tripartism in Hungary and in Central and Eastern Europe 1988-99 European Trade Union Institute Bruxelles, 2001 The author: Lajos Héthy is one of the architects of social dialogue in Hungary. He holds degrees as an economist and sociologist, academic doctor of sociology and h. professor (Faculty of Economics, Janus Pannonius University, Pecs). As director of the Labour Research Institute, Budapest (1980-99) he headed the government’s Wage Reform Expert Group (1987-88), paving the way for the establishment of the tripartite Interest Reconciliation Council. In 1990-91 he was deputy secretary of state, and in 1994-98 political secretary of state of the Ministry of Labour and the government’s chief negotiator in the tripartite institutions. He has been working as an expert for the International Labour Organization since 1978. In 1994-98 he was Hungary’s government delegate to the ILO’s Governing Body. In 1996-97 he participated in the ILO’s exercise in developing tripartism in Albania. He was the founder and first president of the Hungarian Industrial Relations Association (1991-99). He has published widely on labour relations and labour administration issues in Hungary and abroad. At present he is director for labour and employment, UN Civil Administration, Kosovo. Acknowledgements The author expresses his thanks to his colleagues – Mr. György Kaucsek, Ms. Zsófia Fried and Ms. Edit Lakatos – who helped him in researching and in putting together this book. He extends his thanks to those colleagues and friends who contributed to the improvement of the manuscript by reading it and commenting on it – to Mr.
    [Show full text]
  • 56 Stories Desire for Freedom and the Uncommon Courage with Which They Tried to Attain It in 56 Stories 1956
    For those who bore witness to the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, it had a significant and lasting influence on their lives. The stories in this book tell of their universal 56 Stories desire for freedom and the uncommon courage with which they tried to attain it in 56 Stories 1956. Fifty years after the Revolution, the Hungar- ian American Coalition and Lauer Learning 56 Stories collected these inspiring memoirs from 1956 participants through the Freedom- Fighter56.com oral history website. The eyewitness accounts of this amazing mod- Edith K. Lauer ern-day David vs. Goliath struggle provide Edith Lauer serves as Chair Emerita of the Hun- a special Hungarian-American perspective garian American Coalition, the organization she and pass on the very spirit of the Revolu- helped found in 1991. She led the Coalition’s “56 Stories” is a fascinating collection of testimonies of heroism, efforts to promote NATO expansion, and has incredible courage and sacrifice made by Hungarians who later tion of 1956 to future generations. been a strong advocate for maintaining Hun- became Americans. On the 50th anniversary we must remem- “56 Stories” contains 56 personal testimo- garian education and culture as well as the hu- ber the historical significance of the 1956 Revolution that ex- nials from ’56-ers, nine stories from rela- man rights of 2.5 million Hungarians who live posed the brutality and inhumanity of the Soviets, and led, in due tives of ’56-ers, and a collection of archival in historic national communities in countries course, to freedom for Hungary and an untold number of others.
    [Show full text]
  • Hungarian Pension Reforms in an Institutionalist Perspective
    A Service of Leibniz-Informationszentrum econstor Wirtschaft Leibniz Information Centre Make Your Publications Visible. zbw for Economics Guardiancich, Igor Working Paper How not to implement: Hungarian pension reforms in an institutionalist perspective TIGER Working Paper Series, No. 110 Provided in Cooperation with: TIGER - Transformation, Integration and Globalization Economic Research, Warsaw Suggested Citation: Guardiancich, Igor (2008) : How not to implement: Hungarian pension reforms in an institutionalist perspective, TIGER Working Paper Series, No. 110, Transformation, Integration and Globalization Economic Research (TIGER), Warsaw This Version is available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/140762 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. personal and scholarly purposes. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle You are not to copy documents for public or commercial Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich purposes, to exhibit the documents publicly, to make them machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. publicly available on the internet, or to distribute or otherwise use the documents in public. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, If the documents have been made available under an Open gelten abweichend
    [Show full text]
  • Lajos Bokros
    38 Lajos Bokros Experience and Perspectives of Financial Sector Development in Central and Eastern Europe W a r s a w , 2 0 0 1 Responsibility for the information and views set out in the paper lies entirely with the author. The publication was financed by the BRE Bank SA within the joint project "Seminaria BRE-CASE" (BRE-CASE Seminars) Graphic Design: Agnieszka Natalia Bury DTP: CeDeWu Sp. z o.o. ISSN 1506-1639, ISBN 83-7178-256-X Publisher: CASE – Center for Social and Economic Research ul. Sienkiewicza 12, 00-944 Warsaw, Poland tel.: (4822) 622 66 27, 828 61 33, fax (4822) 828 60 69 e-mail: [email protected] Contents Abstract 5 1. Trust Based on Culture and Tradition 6 2. Initial Conditions 6 3. Common Features in 2000 7 4. Increasing Differences Among Countries in Financial Sector Development 10 5. Advanced Reformers 11 6. Reluctant Modernizers 13 7. Struggling with Double Legacy 17 8. Desperate Reformers 20 9. Prolonged Crisis Cases 24 10. Three Pillars of Financial Sector Development 28 CASE-CEU Working Papers Series No. 38 – L. Bokros Lajos Bokros Director of Financial Advisory Services, Europe & Central Asia Region in the World Bank. Former Hungarian Minister of Finance, Chairman of the Budapest Stock Exchange, and Director of the State Property Agency (privatization agency). Author of the successful Hungarian stabilization plan in the mid-nineties. 4 CASE-CEU Working Papers Series No. 38 – Experience and Perspectives of Financial ... Abstract Financial sector development in Central and Eastern Europe has proved to be a very dramatic process characterized by some well trumpeted success stories but even more so by many unexpected collapses of seemingly decent institutions and some systemic meltdown as well.
    [Show full text]
  • Hungary Under Orbán: Can Union’S Fiscal and Foreign Policies
    Policy Brief NUMBER PB15-11 JULY 2015 ties with Russia and a frequent fighter against the European Hungary under Orbán: Can Union’s fiscal and foreign policies. The main economic policies in Hungary under Orbán are Central Planning Revive fivefold. First, reduce the fiscal deficit to below 3 percent of GDP through nationalizing the second pillar of the pension system and levying higher taxes on the banking, telecom, Its Economy? insurance, and retail sectors. Second, nationalize some strategic assets, primarily in the energy sector. Third, increase the role of Simeon Djankov the state in banking through nationalizing some banking sector assets and restructuring the state-owned development bank Simeon Djankov, visiting fellow at the Peterson Institute for International and postal services to deliver credit. Fourth, create monopolies Economics, was deputy prime minister and minister of finance of Bulgaria in certain sectors, for example the production of tobacco and from 2009 to 2013. He is author of Inside the Euro Crisis: An Eyewitness alcohol products. And fifth, reduce mortgage and small business Account (2014) and coeditor of The Great Rebirth: Lessons from the Victory of Capitalism over Communism (2014). lending rates through government subsidies. Under Orbán, the public administration has been an arena © Peterson Institute for International Economics. All rights reserved. for political battles, resulting in frequent and sweeping changes in top bureaucratic positions. However, the political cycle in Since Viktor Orbán was elected prime minister of Hungary in 2010, the state has had a rising role in many sectors of the Both Orbán and Putin consider the economy, either through nationalization, as in banking and energy, or through aggressive regulatory changes, as in insur- Western European economic and ance and retail.
    [Show full text]
  • Ceu-Case 31.Qxd
    31 Béla Greskovits Consolidating Economic Reforms: the Hungarian Experience with Lessons for Poland W a r s a w , 1 9 9 9 Responsibility for the information and views set out in the paper lies entirely with the editor and the author. This paper was prepared for the research project "Sustaining Growth through Reform Consolidation" No. 181-A-00-97-00322, financed by the United States Agency for International Development (US AID) and CASE. Published with the support of the Center for Publishing Development, Open Society Institute - Budapest. Graphic Design: Agnieszka Natalia Bury DTP: CeDeWu – Centrum Doradztwa i Wydawnictw “Multi-Press” sp. z o.o. ISSN 1506-1639, ISBN 83-7178-165-2 Publishers: CASE – Center for Social and Economic Research ul. Sienkiewicza 12, 00-944 Warsaw, Poland tel.: (4822) 622 66 27, 828 61 33, fax (4822) 828 60 69 e-mail: [email protected] Open Society Institute – Regional Publishing Center 1051 Budapest, Oktober 6. u. 12, Hungary tel.: 36.1.3273014, fax: 36.1.3273042 Contents 1. Introduction 5 2. 1989–98: Ten Years of Social Patience 6 3. Four Years of ”Rush Towards Capitalism” (1994–98) 12 4. What Kind of Democracy, and what Kind of Capitalism Has Consolidated 23 5. Conclusions, and Lesson for Other Countries, and Specifically, Poland 27 References 34 CASE-CEU Working Papers Series No. 31 – Béla Greskovits Béla Greskovits The author is Professor of Central European University, Budapest, and Warsaw, and Luigi Einaudi Professor in 1998–99 at the Institute for European Studies, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. 4 CASE-CEU Working Papers Series No.
    [Show full text]
  • Consolidating Economic Reforms: the Hungarian Experience with Lessons for Poland
    31 Béla Greskovits Consolidating Economic Reforms: the Hungarian Experience with Lessons for Poland W a r s a w , 1 9 9 9 Responsibility for the information and views set out in the paper lies entirely with the editor and the author. This paper was prepared for the research project "Sustaining Growth through Reform Consolidation" No. 181-A-00-97-00322, financed by the United States Agency for International Development (US AID) and CASE. Published with the support of the Center for Publishing Development, Open Society Institute - Budapest. Graphic Design: Agnieszka Natalia Bury DTP: CeDeWu – Centrum Doradztwa i Wydawnictw “Multi-Press” sp. z o.o. ISSN 1506-1639, ISBN 83-7178-165-2 Publishers: CASE – Center for Social and Economic Research ul. Sienkiewicza 12, 00-944 Warsaw, Poland tel.: (4822) 622 66 27, 828 61 33, fax (4822) 828 60 69 e-mail: [email protected] Open Society Institute – Regional Publishing Center 1051 Budapest, Oktober 6. u. 12, Hungary tel.: 36.1.3273014, fax: 36.1.3273042 Contents 1. Introduction 5 2. 1989–98: Ten Years of Social Patience 6 3. Four Years of ”Rush Towards Capitalism” (1994–98) 12 4. What Kind of Democracy, and what Kind of Capitalism Has Consolidated 23 5. Conclusions, and Lesson for Other Countries, and Specifically, Poland 27 References 34 CASE-CEU Working Papers Series No. 31 – Béla Greskovits Béla Greskovits The author is Professor of Central European University, Budapest, and Warsaw, and Luigi Einaudi Professor in 1998–99 at the Institute for European Studies, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. 4 CASE-CEU Working Papers Series No.
    [Show full text]
  • The Transition Economies After Ten Years
    WP/OO/30 IMF Working Paper The Transition Economies After Ten Years Stanley Fischer and Ratna Sahay INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND IMF Working Paper 1bis is a Working Paper and the author(s) would welcome any comments on the present text Citations should refer to a Working Paper o/the International Monetary Fund. The © 2000 International Monetary Fund views expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF. WP/00/30 INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND Office of the Managing Director and Research Department The Transition Economies After Ten Years Prepared by Stanley Fischer aod Ratna Sahay 1 February 2000 Abstract This paper summarizes the macroeconomic performance of the transition economies. We first review the initial conditions confronting these economies, the reform strategy that was proposed, and the associated controversies that arose a decade ago. We then account for the widely different outcomes, highlighting the role of exogenous factors and the macroeconomic and structural policies adopted by the countries. We find that both stabilization policies and structural reforms, particularly privatization, contribute to growth. We also conclude that the faster is the speed of reforms, the quicker is the recovery and the higher is growth. JEL Classification Numbers: P2, P3 Author's E-Mail Address: [email protected]; [email protected] 1 This paper was prepared for a conference on "Ten Years After: Traosition and Growth in Post-Communist Countries," organized by the Center for Social and Economic Research Foundation aod held in Warsaw, Poland, October 15-16, 1999. It was also presented at the ABA meetings in Boston, January 2000.
    [Show full text]
  • Book Reviews
    Acta Oeconomica, Vol. 63 (3) pp. 383–399 (2013) DOI: 10.1556/AOecon.63.2013.3.8 BOOK REVIEWS Lajos Bokros Accidental Occidental: Economics and Culture of Transition in Mitteleuropa, the Baltic and the Balkan Area Budapest: CEU University Press, 2012, 204 pp. The 2008–2012 financial crisis made us forget an extremely important part of Central and Eastern Europe, the Baltic and Balkan regions: the process of transi- tion from communism to liberal democracy. Lajos Bokros’s goal is the “defence of Western civilisation” against the new, eye-catching, and high growth authori- tarian state capitalism based on oligarchic order. These regions are especially im- portant in this “fight” because, culturally, geographically and economically, they stand between East and West. The transition process, which started in 1989, is far from complete, and this timely book is a fresco of the developments of structural reforms in the post-communist countries based on a World Bank matrix of first, second, and third generation reforms. Bokros uses his expertise gained as Hungarian Finance Minister in 1995–1996 and as a global transition advisor to construct an attractive argument: Mittel- europa1 and the other regions reviewed are not accidentally occidental. Even though the communist past had left its mark on people’s behaviour, the transition to an open society is by and large a success story. Using a multitude of facts and examples from Hungary, his home country, mostly as negative examples of do-nots of the current government, Bokros clearly emphasises the needed “re- vival and restart” of strengthening the structural reforms in this dangerous crisis 1 Throughout the book, Bokros uses this German term, which is not merely a geographical defi- nition, but reflects a unique culture and civilization developed in this part of Europe.
    [Show full text]
  • Similarities and Differences of Main Left-Wing Parties in Poland and Hungary : the Case of SLD and Mszp in Comparative Perspective (1989
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE Title: Similarities and differences of main left-wing parties in Poland and Hungary : The case of SLD and MSzP in comparative perspective (1989- 2014) Author: Sebastian Kubas Citation style: Kubas Sebastian. (2014). Similarities and differences of main left-wing parties in Poland and Hungary : The case of SLD and MSzP in comparative perspective (1989-2014). "Studia Politicae Universitatis Silesiensis" (T. 13 (2014), s. 83-101). Sebastian Kubas Similarities and differences of main left­‍wing parties in Poland and Hungary: The case of SLD and MSzP in comparative perspective (1989—2014) Abstract: The article presents Polish and Hungarian main left­‍wing parties in the period of political transformation. There are a few sections in the article that develop the research prob‑ lem: the genesis and development of the parties from 1989 to 2014, a comparative analysis of the two parties based on quantitative indices. One can say there are some similarities between SLD and MSzP. The parties were trans‑ formed from communist hegemon formations, then participated in free parliamentary elections with some successes, created several governments and both have recently faced considerable loss of support. SLD and MSzP belong to the parties that influenced Polish and Hungarian transformation greatly. Key words: political parties, Poland, Hungary, SLD, MSzP Introduction Some years have gone since central­‍right parties started to rule and domi‑ nate the state politics in Poland and Hungary. In Poland in 2005 Law and Justice (Pol. Prawo i Sprawiedliwość, PiS) won the parliamentary elections, and then Civic Platform (Pol.
    [Show full text]
  • Book Reviews
    Society and Economy 35 (2013) 2, pp. 263–271 DOI: 10.1556/SocEc.35.2013.2.8 BOOK REVIEWS Lajos Bokros Accidental Occidental. Economics and Culture of Transition in Mitteleuropa, the Baltic and the Balkan Area Budapest – New York: CEU Press, 2013, 192 pp. ISBN 978-615-5225-24-6 Lajos Bokros is one of the most prominent and well-known professionals of the post-communist region. He has had an undisputable impact on the design of trans- formation in Hungary, where, in the capacity of finance minister, he managed to drive the Hungarian economy back on the road of sustainability. His influence has been felt in several other Central and Eastern European countries as well. Bokros also acted as director at the World Bank and currently he is a member of the Euro- pean Parliament and professor at Central European University (Budapest). When John Williamson (1994) invented the term “technopol”, he most probably had in mind individuals such as Bokros (along with the late Russian Jegor Gaidar or the Polish Leszek Balczerowicz). The subtitle of the volume under review (Economics and culture of transition in Mitteleuropa, the Baltic and the Balkan area) promises more (much more in- deed) than a pure macroeconomic analysis of the transition process of the last 20–25 years. It has not been without precedents that Lajos Bokros put his crys- tal-clear and painstaking economic analysis into a wider moral and philosophical perspective. In this book, however, he explicitly and directly focuses his attention on the cultural and moral determinants of the process of transition.
    [Show full text]