Studies published within the „Report on the situation of Hungarian capitalism” program launched by the Institute for Capitalism and the Public Good:

Gábor Balás –András Benjámin Vékony: Impacts of the tax system on the liberty of doing business – Costs of a written tax system

This paper studies the effects of regulations on the role of businesses, examines the impacts of the tax system on entrepreneur decisions, and investigates the factors of regulations that either contribute or prevent value creation. As a conclusion, the paper states that the high level of administrative burdens arising from tax regulations have resulted in the separation of the written and the practical taxation mechanism.

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Balázs Szepesi – Ágnes Szabó-Morvai: Infrastructure of trust – insurances of the cooperation of enterprises in Hungary

The aim of this study is to analyze the guarantees of cooperation between Hungarian enterprises. The trust between contracting parties is a criteria of a business deal. The scope of applied assurances and the conditions of their usage determine the possible range of barters and cooperation. The transaction is not fulfilled without the appropriate guarantees, the base of economic activity is the existence of trust. The infrastructure of trust is a dominant factor of the society’s prosperity; in our study we begin to explore its Hungarian function. (Among others, the study reveals that personal relationship is an important element of the mentioned infrastructure, bargaining power dominates when distributing the profit, and entrepreneurs do not believe in state guarantees.)

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Balázs Szepesi (editor): Report on the Hungarian Capitalism – 2008

“The state of the country is about to tremble, the citizens are disappointed, institutions for businesses are missing, and it is rather the personal relationship that operates. The realm considers the citizen as enemies, and prefers the role of the protector of the weak. Our businesses and families have to bear the burden of the world economic crises, and the weight of bad capitalism evolved in Hungary. Trust – which is the base of cooperation – is weak; the institutions creating trust – namely the infrastructure of trust – are functioning badly. Although citizens and businesses are trying to prevail fair, but at the same time they are convinced that achieving success is impossible without breaking the rules: only the successful can run in the bus lane and pass the line of cars, which is constantly growing, because the traffic lights are out of order.”

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Ágnes Szabó-Morvai: Financing and the Hungarian Capitalism

This study investigates the features of capitalism and the interactions between financial markets. As a novelty, the paper examines financial markets as constructions embedded tightly into the social processes and business life, and considers that the mechanisms of financial markets are affected and formed by the thinking, the value system and the habits of market actors. It studies whether financial markets facilitate favorable business deals, easily obtaining information or entrepreneurial spirit; and whether they are able to get over difficulties arising from the deficiencies of businesses and the Hungarian capitalism.

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Balázs Szepesi: About the normative criteria for state regulations

We offer viewpoints in this study to decide if a regulative principle or a regulative decision is appropriate, hopeful, dangerous or harmful. An important aim of this publication is to reveal that the approach, which refers to the public welfare’s function and promises dissolution of decision conflicts, is often ineffective. András Csite: Miserable capitalism? Features of the value preferences in the Hungarian society This paper reviews the results of the last century’s value and attitude surveys including Hungarian data as well. It examines the following topics through an international comparison: the characteristics of the Hungarian value system, main target and instrumental values, satisfaction with the public status, presumed determinants of success, Hungarians’ national self-concept, the level of general trust and the attitudes and experience towards conformism and disobeying norms. A separate chapter introduces viewpoints of the Hungarian society on its businesses.

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Gábor Balás – András Csite – Ákos Szalai– Balázs Szepesi: What do we know about the Hungarian capitalism?

This study provides an overall picture about the main results of international comparisons, value studies and literature within the „Report about the situation of the Hungarian Capitalism – 2008” project launched by the Institute for Capitalism and the Public Good. Ákos Szalai– Balázs Szepesi: What do we not know about the Hungarian capitalism? Report-design about the state of the Hungarian capitalism The authors of this study identify capitalism after Adam Smith as a merchant society: it is an institutional and social system, where cooperation is free, and the most mutually favorable deals and transactions are taking place.

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Further publications:

Nándor Németh (editor, 2011): Analysing economic development programs, initiated locally; KTI-books 14.; Institute of Economics, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest

Nándor Németh – András Csite – Ákos Jakobi (2009): Employees with Romanian citizenship in Hungary; in Territorial Statistics No 6. (November), pp 615-627

András Csite– Nándor Németh (2008): Inequality of life expectancy at the Millennium in Hungary. Governance, Public Finances, Regulation. Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 257-289.

András Csite – Nándor Németh (2007): Differences in the quality of life in Hungary: estimating opportunities for the HDI at micro-region level. Budapest Working Papers 3. Institute of Economics, Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

András Csite (2005): Raising hope. Political entrepreneurs, networks and institutionalization in the Hungarian rural development, 1990-2002. Századvég, Budapest