Towards Sustainable Growth?

Abstract

The paper targets the specific problem of economic transition, i.e. how the former socialist countries could recover from severe recession of the years after the political change. The concept of "sustainable" growth as it is used here has nothing to do with the old debate, as to whether business cycles (recession periods) have or could come to an end in the developed economies, and even less with the concept of limits to growth introduced by the Club of Rome in the early seventies. The author first reviews the position of Central and Eastern Europe in the process of economic transition and makes conclusion offered by staggering and/or unexpected crises having taken place in the countries of the region. After that, he discusses some of the current problems of Hungarian economy, factors threatening the sustainability of growth, with special regard to those that may perpetuate slack consumption. Finally, he outlines some interconnections between welfare reform and sustainable growth.