TÁRKI Social Research Institute

Hungary

The Kopint-Tárki staff of 12 highly qualified researchers publishes analyses on economic policy issues of Hungary, Central and Eastern Europe. Major research areas also cover fiscal and monetary developments, labour markets, factors of competitiveness, regional economic issues and foreign trade.

Kopint-Tárki regularly prepares economic forecasts on the Hungarian economy based on modelling of different components of economic growth and on surveys conducted quarterly among manufacturing firms. Labour market developments, employment and private income outlooks as well as expected propensity to consume and to save of the households sector are key issues in economic forecast activity. Over the past years the staff prepared several empirical and analytical studies on labour market issues, national accounts, incomes, savings and investments. Major clients are government agencies, private sector and bodies of the EU.

Previous experience relevant to tasks

Project completed for the Reform Alliance, Hungary: Possibilities of reforming of pension system in Hungary and its consequences on fiscal stabilization and on labour market developments. In: Fiscal policy and incentives to economic growth (2009). Different studies on demand and supply as well as their matching on the labour market. Kopint-Tárki has been member of several international research consortia in the framework of Built and technological environment projects, eg Servppin (closed in 2010), and Indicser (ongoing project). In the latter, Kopint-Tárki prepares studies on indicators of non-market services and health-care.

Personnel involved in the project

Robert Gál: Robert is senior researcher at TARKI and Affiliated Professor at the Corvinus University of Budapest (CUB). He holds his MSc in Economics from CUB and his PhD in Sociology from the University of Groningen. His research interests are in the field of life-cycle financing, generational accounting, national transfers accounts (NTA), pension economics and the economics of the welfare state. He was responsible for a dynamic microsimulation of an NDC pension reform scenario for the Pensions and Ageing Roundtable, an expert team convened by the Prime Minister of Hungary (2007-2009). He leads the Intergenerational Indicators Working Group of the National Transfers Accounts project.

Agnes Hárs: Senior researcher at Kopint-Tarki. Her research activity focuses on labour market issues, including labour migration and its consequences on labour market supply. She participated in elaboration of Hungarian Labour Market Strategy and the adaptation of European Labour Market Strategy. She has been working as external expert in different EU research projects on labour market. She has been advisor to different Hungarian public bodies dealing with labour market issues as well as to the European Commission, DG Employment and ILO, Eurofound and CEDEFOP. She is author of several scientific and empirical articles, book chapters, working papers and conference papers in Hungarian, English and German.

Éva Palócz: Director of Kopint-Tárki. Her main field of research activity is macroeconomic and financial balances. She has been engaged in different projects on household’s income and savings and on structure of savings of the households sector. She has been member of several international research consortia in the framework of FP7 projects, eg Servppin (closed in 2010), and Indicser (ongoing project). Erika Rózsás: research assistant to the project with many years of experiences on this field.

Main tasks attributed to them in the project

Kopint-Tárki’s staff will contribute to Pension systems, savings and financial education of the project by analysing of household’s savings and changes of the pension system in Hungary. It analyses the distribution of total income of present and future retirees in selected countries, taking into account public pensions, occupational pensions, labor income, private savings, housing wealth, and private and social insurances (including disability insurance and long-term care insurance). Kopint- Tárki will investigate labour market developments, employment and private income outlooks. It will participate in developing models that can explore the link between retirement income and individual and household labour supply before retirement.

TÁRKI Social Research Institute