Public policy challenges in the new decade

Abstract

The aim of the conference organised on 10 May 2010 by the Research Institute (RI) of the State Audit Office of Hungary and the Hungarian Economic Association under the title Public policy challenges in the new decade was to give the wider professional community an insight into the professional activities of the nearly ten-year-old RI1 in connection with the shap ing of public policies. The top priority research activity of the RI is the modernisation of pub lic finance regulation. From this point of view it examines whether or not the operation of the state, and of its different subsystems support the efficient utilisation of public funds. Last autumn the RI issued a publication on the expedient role of the state, and in April this year a collection of studies came out under the title The public sector and economic competitive ness – empirical results and lessons, which pres ents the results of multidisciplinary research conducted in conjunction with the Competitiveness Research Centre of the Budapest Corvinus University. A study written during two ongoing research projects also formed part of the conference materials. The organisers of the conference decided to present and discuss the studies through thematic panel discussions instead of choosing the classic form of lectures/consultations.