The ongoing financial crisis is hitting hard countries large and small. The debate on the viability of a market economy in post-communist countries is intensifying, especially as Hungary and Ukraine are teetering on the brink of the collapse and are reaching out to the IMF for another bail out.
Some go as far as suggesting that Hungary has been worse off with the fall of communism.
The truth is that Hungary, like the Ukraine, has gone backwards, and not forwards since the fall of communism. Even Viktor Orban, the staunchly anti-communist leader of the main conservative opposition party Fidesz, has conceded that for the majority, life was easier in the relatively liberal ‘goulash’ communism era of the 1970s and 80s.
Never having the pleasure of living in Hungary in the Communist times or recently, it would be hard for me to reflect on such a statement. In its recent story, the Economist did highlight the fact that Eastern Europe indeed is sufffering from the crisis, but at the same time it stopped short of declaring that market economies have not performed better than command economies of the past.
One recent poll, however, suggests that nostalgia over the past is quite widespread in Hungary, especially among the elderly.
Only 14% of respondents said the period since 1990 has been their happiest, while 60% said it has been the least happy, compared to 17% and 48% seven years ago.
Taking into the account the difficulties of estimating happiness and people’s tendencies to perceive the past better than it really was, I wonder — has it really been that bad in Hungary, one of the leaders of Eastern European transition?
Published Date: October 29, 2008