Csaba Lentner - East of Europe, west of Asia

14 | Chapter 1: Theme and Purpose of the Book, a Short Historical Arc of its Subject
The research behind this book tried to reveal and evaluate the institution
of the state’s economic influence in the last one and a half centuries on the
implementation of independent state organization or, respectively, on the
activity in pursuit of its acquisition or catching up and modernization. It
also aimed at mapping the role taken by the state’s economic policy, as well
as its efficiency and quality, among the Hungarian conditions characterized
by delay and lagging behind.
Thus the book intends to create a new scientific value by means of investigating
the historical track of economic administration, the efficiency analysis
of economic data and conditions and systemizing the imprint of political
science of the studied economic courses. It must be added though, that due
to spatial limitations and researcher’s humility this cannot be done in full
depth, therefore it focuses only on the significant points of major economic
processes and intellectual flows of ideas. 13
The five investigated courses are: 1) the half-a-century-long period of
dualistic policy and economic arrangement being formed after the Compromise
with the House of Habsburg in 1867; 2) the reconstruction between
the two world wars, the economic policy of a state preparing principally to
territorial revision; 3) economic conditions of the planned economy operating
under a strong state and party influence; 4) the nearly three decades
of the transition to a market economy started in the 1980s; 14 5) the new era
of active state influence beginning in 2010. So it is about five distinct periods
of history in the centre of which is the research of the state’s role and its
regulatory activity. Four courses were characterized by active state influence
while one was featured by the reduction of state ownership and regulation.
Both the previous and present public finance conditions in Hungary have
differed from those featuring developed market economies belonging mostly
to the Anglo-Saxon cultures. Similarly, our planned economy was also different
from the Soviet practice. Therefore, in addition to our geographically
“centred position”, a kind of intermediate Hungarian practice can be observed
in the field of public finance, as well, which is also expressed in the
title of this book.
Regarding the “genre” of the book, it belongs to the field of political science.
During the past decade, in many of my studies, I tried to define the
subject and category of public finance within the political science to put its
status fulfilled in the different ages into a historical and international context.
15 After the years of the crisis of 2007–2008 the state’s role increased, its
regulatory and controlling activity became stronger 16 , that is the effect public
finance made on the actors of the economy has been intensified. 17 This provides
a good opportunity for an interdisciplinary field of science to be formed
in Hungary, as well, 18 between the “descriptive” jurisprudence and the now
business-oriented economic science focusing more on the functioning of the
state, the intrinsic conditions of which were established by the age of dualism
19 and the period between the two world wars. 20