Recent Small Business Reforms in Hungary: A Unique Socialist Experiment
报告匈牙利1982年小企业组织形式的激进改革，基于匈牙利资料介绍早期经验，并讨论经济学家对未来改进的建议，对关注东欧经济改革者具有参考价值。
Hungry has since 1968 been in the vanguard of reform movements unfolding in the east-bloc countries. With the exception of reform measures in Yugoslavia, the measures introduced in Hungary in 1968 represent the most radical central system changes of any of the countries belonging to the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA). These changes firmly establish the foundations for what can be characterized as a socialist market economy in Hungary. The purpose of this article is to report on a most recent and bold development in Hungarian reform: the creation, as of January 1, 1982, of radically new forms of small business organizations. The available experience with those new organizations as of early 1983 are also presented, based on descriptions by Hungarian sources. Finally, Hungarian economists' and planners' suggestions for future changes and improvements in Hungarian organizations are discussed and evaluated. The success or failure of the measures currently being implemented in Hungary will undoubtedly affect the direction of reforms in other east-bloc countries. It is clearly important, therefore, to assess the meaning of these reforms as well as the thinking of Hungarian reformers on future directions for change. DECENTRALIZATION MEASURES OF 1968 The principal feature of the 1968 reform measures in Hungary was decentralization of the mechanism, a move which significantly extended the decision-making power of enterprises to areas previously reserved for higher administrative levels, such as that of ministries and central bodies. Enterprises were thus freed of the previously obligatory plan assignments and could develop autonomous production and distribution plans. The role of ministries was reduced to coordination and provision of assistance and guidance for the preparation of such plans. Centralized materials allocation was abolished as well. Ministries henceforth exercised influence over enterprise management through the provision of appropriate financial incentives or disincentives, involving such economic levers as tax rates, interest rates, and loans. Indicative planning largely replaced command planning, and the influence of market forces grew considerably. Prices, for example, were partially freed from central control and in many cases were allowed to fluctuate freely in response to demand and supply. Thus, while in 1968, 86 percent of food and consumer articles had an official price, in 1980 only 72 percent of such articles belonged to this category. Similarly, in the metal-technical sector, only 13 percent of products were freely priced in 1968, but by 1980 that percentage had increased to more than two thirds. Market socialism seems an apt characterization of a system that increasingly attempted to blend central guidance with local enterprise autonomy and freely functioning market forces towards the achievement of national development objectives. EMERGING PROBLEMS REQUIRING NEW MESURES The 1968 measures were generally given high marks for success, but by the late 1970s new problems had emerged that appeared to require additional regulatory steps. Severe external shocks buffeted the Hungarian economy, particularly the worsening terms of trade with both the East and the West, marketing crises in some major export markets in the West, and the halt in growth in much-needed supplies of raw materials and energy from the CMEA bloc. These negative developments provided the backdrop for additional reform measures begun in 1979-1980, which led to the 1982 small business reforms. By the late 1970s it became necessary to mobilize hitherto unused human and material resources in order to avoid stagnation. Hungarian planners attempted to apply to the industrial sector the principles which led to the successful experience with household plots and small-scale farming, which and resulted in high productivity gains in agriculture. …