Economic features of populism in some CEE countries

The online workshop series "Varieties of Populism in East and West" began on October 25th. The first seminar's topic was "Economic Features of Populism in a Few CEE Countries."

The introductory speech was held by Prof. Miklós Szanyi (Szeged University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration / Director, Institute of World Economics, Budapest).  

Prof. Miklós Szanyi described systemic change processes, focusing on Hungary, where populism and pragmatism, in his opinion, go hand in hand: the populist government pays attention to macroeconomic balances and promises economically feasible and politically attractive changes in taxation and social transfers. On the other hand, as inequality rises, the social strata that require solidarity are unable to change their status. The decision-making process for economic policy is shortsighted. Institutional quality, as well as competitiveness, is steadily deteriorating.

Discussant, Dr Alen Toplišek (Department of European and International Studies, King's College London), as well as the participants, addressed several critical questions about the impact of the external backdrop and the inversion of market reforms in some ECE countries.

The video of the presentation is available here.

More information about the seminar series of FUB-HSE "Varieties of populism in East and West" here.