Economy

On June 27, 2014, Petro Poroshenko, newly elected President of Ukraine, will sign the economic part of the Association Agreement with the EU, political part of which was signed in March 2014. Same day Georgia and Moldova will also sign the Association Agreements with the EU.

In Ukraine, the main channel of the impact of remittances on GDP is consumption. The scope of impact depends on two factors - the marginal propensity to save and the propensity to purchase imported goods and services.

During the global financial crisis, public pensions in Lithuania were cut to reduce further strain on the government budget. The Lithuanian government is now considering backpaying these pensions.

The Tax Freedom Day has arrived! The last Tuesday was the first day when people have started to earn on their own and not for the State and needs of public finances.

The rapid economic growth, coupled with the rise of capitalism, is the source of the wealth of our society. However, this fact is often overshadowed by the perpetual discussions about inequality and wealth differences.

Fiscal harmonization is the homogenizing of countries’ tax systems, whether by natural occurrence (through fiscal competition) or political negotiation. But is fiscal harmonization a credible goal, and if so, who would benefit?

Europe is experiencing a boom in the contingent convertible bonds, in the Anglo-Saxon world also dubbed CoCos. These are the bonds which, at a certain point, convert to the shares of the debtor.

Many people, both in the West and in the former socialist countries, display an attitude which I call—somewhat pointedly—“a mentality of Soviet official”. It is a generalized belief: “whatever problem there exists, only the state can solve it.” The state is perceived as a deity, i.e. an omniscient and benevolent being with unlimited resources.

Since the transition, a number of national and international contrastive studies have noted a growing anti-capitalist sentiment in the Hungarian society.

FDP leader Christian Lindner expressed a strong need for more responsibility in fiscal policy and a legally anchored ban on the bank bailout. He criticized the state bank bailout as a perversion of the market economy.