Agrarian ecomomy in Central East-Europe and the former Soviet Union in the second half of the nineties
The agrarian economy of the region is living through the days of the change of system, of transformation. Looking back on recent years it may be stated that the countries affected set the comprehensive goals, the main directions of change correctly. Under the present economic and political conditions prevailing in Central East-Europe there is no alternative to the building out of a market economy relying on private ownership. But it has also turned out that the transformation (transition) is much more complicated and complex than assumed by anyone in 1990-1991 (Csáki-Lerman [1997]). Not even five years after the starting of the reform processes can it be said that the transition has ended. The agrarian economy of the region has not yet passed one of the most difficult stages of its history.
The political economy of agrarian politics. Part I. Modeling of governmental policies in agriculture
Governmental interferece with agriculture may be considered as a general phenomenon. The traditional agrarian policy models sought answer with the instruments of welfare economics to the question how big dead-weight burdens are entailed for society by the use of various domestic and foreign market interventions. The political economy of agrarian policies, however, makes attempts to understand, using the results of the new institutional economics, the actually working agrarian policy practice as well as the decision making processes of the latter. In the first part of the study the author shows how inclusion of the activity of pressure groups into the agrarian policy models changes its earlier positive and normative results. It is further investigated how the new instruments applied for modeling governmental policies the surplus transformation curve, the political preference function contribute to a better understanding of the agrarian policies operating in reality and to the foundation of normative recommendations.
Kelet és Nyugat között
AIDS symptoms of the East European social sciences
Last year the editors intended to animate the series entitled Between East and West, started in the Spring of 1996, with the contribution of János Mátyás Kovács: The Fate of the Prodigious Son. The article written by the three authors has been taken over with a similar purpose from the English-language special issue of Replika published in 1996. Then and there this article made a strong impact on sociologists. The editors hope this time it will also stimulate the Hungarian society of economists to debates.
Műhely
Classsification of small enterprises
Relying on information derived from tax returns the article attempts to describe the groups in diverse situation in the sector of small enterprises. It compares the situations and self-assessment of these groups by using a large sample of business cycle investigation. On the basis of the tax returns it may be stated that the economic situation of joint businesses is better than that of individual entrepreneurs, and of legal entities better than of those without legal entity qualification, the situation of small ventures is better than that of micro-ventures and the selfemployed. In the business research investigations the subjective evaluation of the entrepreneurs questioned confirmed the experiences gained from tax returns.
The price of exclusivity
For the man of the 20th century important interest is attached to his carrying some advantageously chosen societal identity. The more his societal identity distinguishes someone from others. the greater his chances will be to belong to those who, by paying the given price, may have access to some scarce resource or become subjects of some advantegeous transaction. Payment of the price and the advantageously chosen societal identity secure combined the chance for attaining economic goals. The study presents a computation process the measure of exclusivity making possible to convert into each other the two mediating factors.