The research group of the Farkas Heller Institute of Economy has become connected with the 'Development of scientific research at Pázmány Péter Catholic University', No. 4.2.1.B-11/2/KMR-2011-0002 Operative Project (TÁMOP).
Farkas Heller Institute of Economy – Governance and public welfare research group
In economics, there is agreement settled about how states can assist to economic growth, as follows: by production or financing of public goods, correction of market failures, moderation of inequality in incomes and equal opportunities, or by restraint of excessive economic fluctuations. In the past two decades many empiric international comparative researches tried to find the answer for which state (governmental) acts have decisive role in successes and failures of each national economies. The difference in general is in the basic institutional and legal infrastructure such as: guarantees of ownership, effective judicial claim of rigths, action against governmental malfeasance (corruption) or providing efficient competition conditions.
The errand of theoretical (legal and political science, sociology of law) and special legal academics is to examine how results of recent economic researches can contribute to the legal reflections on states and systems and to a constitutional rule of law in general that is thinking responsibly about economical issues. Besides considering the fertile exchanges of mechanisms of interdisciplinary opportunities and gained experiences, this study gives special attention barriers that should be taken into account within a Hungarian and European context. These barriers are the limited independece of scope of economies of nation states and requirement of global competitiveness of the European region.
Based on the amount of state involvement, the relationship towards the markets, and according to the amount of redistribution, member states of the EU can be divided into several groups. These groups form models. In Europe 4 models can be differenttiated, as follows, the Scandinavian, the Anglo-Saxon, the Continental and the Mediterranean. Examining the models, the Hungarian state involvement is similar to the Continental model. In respect of competitiveness our country is in the same group with the Mediterranean countries. The efficiency of state involvement is low if we consider the Corruption Index of Hungary and the weak establishment of state IT services. Regarding the latter, opinions of theoretical and practical professionals chime with each other. Out of the four models, the Anglo-Saxon and the Scandinavian models are the most successful, forming the two marker points of the state involvement-scale. Consequently, the size of the country does not determinate the economic success, therefore the explanation should be found elsewhere.
Possible interfaces between the company and the state are specifically dealt with by the Porter model within the so called triple diamond structure. The first level ("A") is formed by the macro-environment of the country hosting the headquarters of the company. The descriptors of this model for the macro-environment are the following: the rate of growth of the national economy, the fluctuation of unemployment and the inflation rate, the stability criterion measurable by the budget deficit and public finances as well as the international competitiveness marked by the ratio of exchange, the terms of trade indices. The second level ("B") is meant to outline the map of the foreseeable set of conditions, though not necessarily displayed in figures. In this framework, the targeted research subject is the structure of the national economy (as it regards the branches, spatial position, technology or ownership), the direction of ruling state economy, the institutional system of directing economic activity, the level of infrastructural development regarding the economy, the standard of innovation, the educational standard and the quality of labour forces as well as the educational- cultural background in service of these.
As a result and by international comparison, it will tackle the conditions for utilizing natural resources, the demographic peculiarities, trends within technical development and the impact of the ever globalizing financial system upon actual economic processes; last but not least, the role and network spectrum of the international companies.
The research group aims to spotlight on the sustainability of the present pension system, with regard to the demographic changes and by drawing possible alternatives.
