The development opportunities of Hungarian society in light of economic competitiveness

Although daily or even quarterly economic data contain alternating good and bad news, it is hardly debatable that Hungary's long-term economic trends are very unfavorable. In terms of competitiveness, growth, investment, productivity, employment, and many other indicators, it is almost impossible to choose a base period in the two and a half decades since the change of regime that would not make us sad when we look at the situation today. This is especially true when we consider the expectations expressed by the majority of the population and experts at the time of the change of regime, upon joining the European Union, or in response to the promises made by successive governments. Many people from many sides have analyzed the reasons for this, and many high-quality and—sometimes leaning one way, sometimes the other—apologetic writings have been produced. Nevertheless, I believe that it is still worthwhile to expand the analysis with a few new perspectives, because the rhetoric and practices of the coalition government that came to power in 2010 contain a number of new elements. Not only do we hear from leading politicians and professional leaders that the path taken so far and the political and economic thinking behind it have led to a dead end (which is more or less standard rhetoric for a newly elected government), but also that it was/is not only the path that was/is the problem, but the orientation itself: the Western European democratic market economy, in which we (along with our current leaders) had such great faith a quarter of a century ago.