Does counters’ responsibility end at the margin of the marginal utility? : Reflection on „The Marginal Utilities and Marginal Costs of Having Children” by Péter Mihályi

In his article published in the 2019/4 issue of the Public Finance Quarterly, Péter Mihályi argues that in Hungary, population reduction and aging cannot be significantly reduced within national frameworks, no matter how large the amount of money by which the state tries to reduce the individual costs of childbearing is. In contrast, on the one hand, this article points out that there are realistic options for reducing the gap between the number of children desired and the number of children actually delivered, and thereby significantly increasing the fertility rate. On the other hand, the article outlines a number of factors (emigration, high rates of childlessness) that should be taken into account when designing a model for the individual utility of childbearing, and thus give families additional aspects to consider when making decisions in terms of childbearing

Measuring the Macroeconomic Performance of Public Finance Management

In international practice, the performance of public finance management is usually assessed on the basis of quality indicators of the subsystems of the public finance system. The experts of the State Audit Office of Hungary have developed an evaluation system capable of measuring the performance of public finance management on the basis of quantitative indicators and quantifying the contribution of the factors that determine performance most. This article describes this system. It also shows how the assessment system was used to analyse the risks to the ongoing reduction of Hungarian public debt

Az etnikai hovatartozás számbavételi lehetőségei és szükségessége

Keveset tudunk arról, hogy a jóléti és a szegénység elleni intézkedések, vagy akár a nevesített „romaprogramok” milyen valódi hatást gyakorolnak a cigányság élethelyzetének javítására. Megfelelő felmérések, nyilvántartások híján nem állapítható meg kellő pontossággal, hogy az intézkedések, programok kedvezményezettjei között mekkora a romák aránya. A cikk kifejti azokat a célszerűségi, jogi és politikai érveket, amelyek az etnikai jellegű adatok jogilag és szakmailag megfelelő számbavétele mellett szólnak. A szerző rámutat, hogy e programok célzottságának és eredményességének vizsgálatához általában elegendő a romák arányának megállapítása a programok különböző szakaszaiban, azaz nem szükséges személyenként nyilvántartani, hogy ki a roma nemzetiségű. A cikk bemutatja, milyen lehetőségei vannak az etnikumhoz tartozás számbavételének az általános jóléti intézkedések, illetve a célzott szegénység elleni programok esetében

Is the aid scheme for disabled workers efficient?

In 2008, HUF 631 billion were allocated in the Hungarian state budget for the disability pension of the working-age population, HUF 94 billion were made available to finance the social benefits of people with health impairments. The two figures added together make up 2.9 per cent of the GDP. If the approximately 700 thousand people who were absent from active production due to disabilities and health impairments had been effectively employed, and if they had been able to contribute to production only with a 50 per cent efficiency compared to the remaining 3.7 million people employed, their contribution could have raised the Hungarian GDP by close to 10 per cent. Understandably, not every person with health impairment is capable of re-entering the labour market, nevertheless, the statistical figures clearly indicate the magnitude of state expenditure and loss of revenues caused by the absence of disabled workers who are the passive beneficiaries of aid schemes. An aid scheme designed for disabled workers may be regarded efficient from socio-economic perspective, if it were to be geared at employment more effectively and proportionately less money were to be allocated for supplementing their income

Within and beyond global economy

László Práger Within and beyond global economy AULA KIADÓ, BUDAPEST 200

Preparations of the State Audit Office of Hungary for the Analysis of the Macroeconomic Risks to the State Budget

The President of the State Audit Office of Hungary (SAO), in his capacity as a member of the Fiscal Council, will rely on the knowledge gathered by the auditors during their on-site audits aimed at the establishment of the opinion of the SAO on the budg-et appropriation bill, and in the course of other audits. The Research Institute of the SAO contributes to the formulation of a well-founded opinion on the credibility and feasibility of the draft budget by preparing a fiscal risk analysis. The fiscal risk analysis pri-marily examines whether • the government’s macroeconomic projection contains elements of excessive risk, • the projections of the various factors constitute a consistent system, and • the planned appropriations of the fiscal revenues and expenditures that highly depend on the changes in macroeco-nomic parameters are in conformity with the macroeconomic projections of the government. In addition to outlining the method of risk analysis, the article provides several examples to describe how the development trends of the Hungarian economy in the last 15–20 years influenced the macroeconomic environment of the state budget

Az integritásirányítás lehetséges modelljei

What model of integrity management can an organization best use to ensure that its employees make decisions that are consistent with organizational values in all circumstances? – the article is looking for the answer to this question. On the one hand, it groups the models according to how the integrity management system is related to the internal control system. On the other hand, it distinguishes models according to the extent to which organizational culture has shifted from rule-based to the two types of value-based culture, one is the mission driven, the second supports the fulfilment of the profession (vocation) of its employees. The article outlines several possible models, describing their essential properties and the area where the models can be used expediently.Egy szervezet az integritásirányítás milyen modelljét alkalmazva képes leginkább elérni, hogy dolgozói minden körülmények között a szervezeti értékrendnek megfelelő döntéseket hozzanak? – erre a kérdésre keresi a cikk a választ. A modelleket egyrészt aszerint csoportosítja, hogy az integritásirányítási rendszer miként kapcsolódik a belső kontrollrendszerhez, másrészt megkülönbözteti a modelleket aszerint, hogy a szervezeti kultúra mennyire mozdult el a szabályalapúságtól a küldetésvezérelt és a hivatástámogató értékkövetés irányába. A cikk felvázol több lehetséges modellt, ismertetve lényeges tulajdonságaikat és célszerű alkalmazási területüket

Preventing Corruption by Strengthening Organisational Integrity

The article describes the theoretical basis of the integrity survey conducted by the state audit office of hungary and proceeds to assess the extent to which integrity controls have been established in the hungarian public sector based on the 2013 survey. The paper underlines that compliance with the legal requirements is a necessary but not a sufficient condition of integrity. Besides the mandatory rules, soft integrity controls influencing employees’ behaviour play an important role in ensuring that a public body operates in line with its declared principles and values. strengthening integrity is an effective means for preventing corruption as well. The data of the survey show that the establishment of an integrity-oriented organisational culture is at an early stage in the hungarian public sector. The majority of the institutions have developed their own fundamental internal regulations, but less than 40 per cent of them perform risk analysis. More than 50 per cent of respondents apply a number of ‘soft’ controls. The ratio of organisations which have introduced controls specifically against corruption is rather low

The necessity of reforming the role the state plays in economy – Essential experience gained from ÁSZKUT researc

The efficiency of public finances, and in a wider envelope the efficacy of the operation of the pub lic sector, is one of the most significant research areas of Állami Számvevõszék Kutatóintézete [State Audit Office Research Institute] (hereon referred to as the Institute).1 Thus, we need to ask the question time after time in the course of our research projects: How much can the state and the entire public sector contribute to improving the competitiveness of the economic sector and, ultimately, the entire country? In this opening study I would like to present the results gained from nearly 10 years of work of the insti tution that has been seeking answers to that question