We are a platform for experts and intellectuals from Central and Eastern Europe, embodying the liberal environment, to share their opinions and ideas.

In Hungary, FIDESZ-KDNP has been ruling the country with a two-thirds constitutional majority since 2010, now for 15 years. Under Orbán’s regime, there is a particular focus on the country’s media landscape and the crisis of its credibility. It is no exaggeration to state that the public media is effectively under political control and has lost its legitimacy.

Economists have been fascinated by the question of the origins of prosperity since the very beginning of their discipline. Today, we know much more about it than Adam Smith did 250 years ago when he wrote The Wealth of Nations. In the mid-20th century, economist Robert Solow developed a model explaining economic growth through capital accumulation and population growth.

I recently attended a discussion on Europe’s competitiveness. There was unanimous agreement that we are lagging behind in all applied technologies—perhaps with the sole exception of the pharmaceutical industry. The reflexive response from the participants was: “We’ve created a fund for that.” Too few startups? Create a startup fund.Weak AI performance? An AI innovation fund!

“Competition is a discovery procedure that enables us to adapt to new circumstances. It is through further competition, not through agreement, that we gradually increase our efficiency.” This statement by economist F.A. Hayek best captures the essence of competition. Competition constantly separates the efficient from the inefficient. The invisible hand of the market is, in fact, the visible hand of the customer.

Are we witnessing the weakening of political parties? If that is the case, what are the effects of this phenomenon on democracy? Is there a market for centrist politics? Has the US turned populist? And what is the future for Argentina under President Javier Milei? Leszek Jazdzewski talks with Samuel Issacharoff, the Bonnie and Richard Reiss Professor of Constitutional Law at the NYU School of Law.