Out of credit: Evaluating the impact of the EU structural funds on Hungarian small business growth and access to finance

Totaling EUR 29 billion, Hungary is in the midst of implementing its largest economic development program in its young democratic history. At the center of the European Union led development program is an effort to revitalize and reequip Hungary’s languishing small and medium sized enterprises (SME), long the country's heart of employment. This paper examines the efficiency and impact of two Structural Fund's instruments to enhance SME development – ECOP 2.1.1 and JEREMIE. A survey of 1275 SME and interviews with dozens of top policy-makers paint a flawed development program in dire need of reform. Despite this, empirical analysis suggests JEREMIE funds may have dampened the effects of the financial crisis and are crucial for the continued liquidity of SME, who have been particularly hit hard by the world financial crisis

Exporting Citizens, Importing Remittances: The Developing World's Newest Strategy to Combat Poverty

Today, three percent of the world's population lives and works outside its country of birth. This rise in migration has led to a surge in remittances, which now represent the most important source of income for many developing countries. This paper will focus on the debate surrounding the impact of remittances on poverty among both receiving households and the non-receiving community in the country of origin, concluding that remittances have a higher propensity to be invested in education, health, and entrepreneurship than non-remittance based income. Its findings highlight the potential of a sustainable method of south-to-south development that may very well redefine how policy makers approach migration and development