Hungary: Towards a Market Economy

• List of figures; List of tables; Foreword; Acknowledgements; List of conference participants; 1. The hidden Hungarian miracle László Halpern and Charles Wyplosz; Part I. Macroeconomic Policy: 2. Fiscal difficulties in the transition: the case of Hungary between 1991 and 1995 Pál Gáspár; Discussion David Begg; 3. The interest rate transmission mechanism in Hungary, 1991–5 Balázs Világi and János Vincze; 4. The nature of Hungarian inflation Isvtán Hamecz, János Vincze and Isvtán Zsoldos; Discussion Ratna Sahay; 5. The hidden economies of Visegrád countries in internal comparison: a household electricity approach Mária Lackó; Discussion Michael A. Landesmann; Part II. Industrial Structure: 6. Corporate governance in the transition - the case of Hungary: do new structures help create efficient ownership control Ádám Török; 7. Corporate performance in the transition: econometric analysis of Hungarian exporting firms, 1985–94 László Halpern and Gábor Körösi; Discussion Jan Svejnar; 8. Hungary's Ponzi game László Szakadát; Discussion Jérôme Sgard; Part III. Labour Markets: 9. The minimum wage in Hungary: subsistence minimum and/or bargaining tool Jenö Koltay; Discussion George Kopits; 10. Welfare institutions and the transition: in search of efficiency and equity Iván Csaba and András Semjén; Discussion Christine H. Allison; 11. Regional unemployment rate differentials in Hungary, 1991–5: the changing role of race and human capital Árpád Ábrahám and Gábor Kertesi; Discussion Michael Burda; Index.

Review of the hardback: 'The work of Halpern and Wyplosz is a useful contribution to the literature on transitional economics. It provides carefully researched and detailed evidence of economic change. It also contains very interesting commentaries on each chapter by other economists. These, together with the introductory chapter, will be particularly helpful for the lay reader in understanding what they call the hidden Hungarian miracle.' The Times Higher