Transformations in Hungary: Essays in Economy and Society (Contributions to Economics)

During the first decade after the turn towards democracy and market economy, Hungary's society experienced profound changes. The book analyses related political, legal, institutional and socio-economic structures and processes in order to contribute to a further understanding of Hungary's ongoing transformation processes and its current situation as one of the leading candidates for EU membership. The topics include constitutive elements of a modern market economy as well as education, income structures, the poverty situation, post-communist voting behaviour, regional and urban development and Hungary's cross-border co-operations. The role of Budapest within the European city system and Hungary's economic situation within Europe are also discussed. Drawing together comprehensive empirical data and a geat variety of viewpoints, the book offers innovative examples of the application of different theoretical approaches to transformation studies and studies of economy and society in general. During the first decade after the turn towards democracy and market economy, Hungary's society experienced profound changes that affected its regions, towns, villages and individual places in different ways. This is documented by thirteen essays that analyse related political, legal, institutional, and socio-economic structures and processes in time and space in order to contribute to a further understanding of Hungary's ongoing transformation processes and its current situation as one of the leading candidates for EU membership. The topics include constitutive elements of a modern market economy such as banking, foreign direct investment, entrepreneurship, knowledge resources, the labour market, and the housing market. Further essays explore education and income structures, the poverty situation, post-communist voting behaviour, regional and urban development as well as Hungary's cross-border co-operations. With regard to European integration processes, the role of Budapest within the European city system and Hungary's economic situation within Europe are discussed. Drawing together comprehensive empirical data and a great variety of viewpoints, this collection of essays offers innovative examples of the application of different theoretical approaches to studies of economy and society in general, and transformation studies in particular Front Matter....Pages I-XIV The Role of Knowledge in the Socio-Economic Transformation of Hungary in the 1990s....Pages 1-38 New Regional Patterns in Hungary....Pages 39-64 Foreign Banks are Branching out: Changing Geographies of Hungarian Banking, 1987–1999....Pages 65-124 International Competitiveness: Impacts of Foreign Direct Investment in Hungary and Other Central and East European Countries....Pages 125-156 The Spread of Entrepreneurship in Eastern Europe....Pages 157-172 Spatial and Social Disparities of Employment and Income in Hungary in the 1990s....Pages 173-206 Development and Spatial Disparities of Unemployment in Hungary....Pages 207-224 Poverty Dynamics in Hungary during the Transformation....Pages 225-247 The Geography of Post-Communist Parliamentary Elections in Hungary....Pages 249-271 The New Role of Budapest in the Central European City System....Pages 273-289 Recent Differentiation Processes in Budapest’s Suburban Belt....Pages 291-315 The Changing Hungarian Cityscape in the 1990s: A Survey of Four Sample Cities....Pages 317-327 Residential Mobility during Transformation: Hungarian Cities in the 1990s....Pages 329-354 Cross-Border Co-operations in Hungary in the 1990s....Pages 355-382 Back Matter....Pages 384-384 At the end of the 1980s, the majority of experts and politicians expected that a transfer of capital, technology, institutions, and management practice from western countries would successfully transform the centrally planned economies of communist states into market economies in a relatively short period of time. Peter Meusburger, Heike Jöns (editors). Includes Bibliographical References.