Competitiveness and institutional change in Hungary

The competitiveness of a country, besides the quantity and quality of factors of production, is largely dependent on institutional factors. It is not surprising therefore that the alteration of formal institutions (e.g. laws, measures, policies etc.) is a hot topic nowadays. But it is important to note that the efficiency of formal institutions is based on informal ones. Traditions of a country, culture, the values of the people are all factors that fundamentally affect the functioning of explicitly recorded, and so easily changeable formal rules. Measures taken to enhance the competiveness of a country often fail to have any noticeable effect, because they don’t harmonise with the value system or traditions of the people. The paper provides a short overview on the connection of values and economic performance, then considers the possible efficiency of a few economic policy instruments recently suggested by experts.