THE FIRST LANCUT ECONOMIC FORUM
"REVERSE LEARNING"
April 15-16, 2005

The first session of the Forum was on tax reform in the EU’s new member countries. Dr Maciej Grabowski (IBnGR) and Mr. Martin Chren (Director of the F.A. Hayek Foundation) referred to tax reform issues in Poland and in Slovakia. Dr Grabowski discussed formal adjustment issues of the EU new member countries and Balkan nations (in the realm of both direct and indirect taxes; he also highlighted the main trends at present in institutional tax mechanisms).
Mr. Martin Chren discussed the particulars of the tax system in Slovakia. He described in detail the characteristics of the Slovak tax system and the financial consequences of Slovakia’s adaptation to European Union requirements.

During the second session, the speakers were: Prof. Ondrej Schneider and Mr. Jan Zapal (Institute of Economic Studies, Charles University in Prague) and Mr. Lars Christensen (Senior Analyst at Danske Research and head of Danske Research’s New Europe Team). They discussed fiscal reform in both the Czech Republic and Lithuania. Prof. Ondrej Schneider and Mr. Jan Zapal presented a summary of fiscal reform throughout the EU new member countries. They showed how fiscal policy in these countries has been inconsistent and has not lead national budgets to EU fiscal conformance.
Mr. Lars Christensen spoke on the case of Lithuania and its fiscal reform of the years 1999-2002. He told how Lithuania, a nation under Russian influence in the years 1998/1999, weathered an economic crisis which resulted in a high budget deficit and a high deficit in the country’s current accounts. An interesting note was the fact that the Lithuanian government reduced budget expenditures and did not raise taxes to revive the economy.

The topic of the third session was a review of pension reform systems with particular emphasis on the case of Hungary. The speakers for this session were Mr. Ryszard Petru (head economist at Bank BPH) and Mr. Zoltan Adam (research fellow at at Kopint-Datorg economic institute in Budapest). Both Mr. Petru and Mr. Adam discussed retirement system reform and their detailed comparisons. Mr. Adam showed how the new pension scheme in Hungary – rolled out in 1998 – is made up of three main pillars as in Poland (pillar I – traditional, pillar II - obligatory, pillar III – voluntary.) The format of this system is a model supported by the World Bank.

The final, fourth session was on healthcare system reforms with reference to the case of Hungary. During the first part of this session, the speaker was Prof. Ewelina Nojszewska (Warsaw School of Economics), who discussed healthcare system reform and its main goals: accessibility for all citizens to public health care, efficient use of healthcare resources, quality services, and patient care. Particular attention was paid to the mechanism by which healthcare is financed, as an indicator of its quality and the need to examine the experiences of other countries when any changes are considered. Prof. Peter Mihalyi (Central European University in Budapest) described in detail the Hungarian healthcare system reform. He undertook to prove the hypothesis that at present there is both disintegration and de-integration in the healthcare systems of the 28 post-communist countries. New systems have been created which are to a great degree dependent on the previous solutions. He shows in his paper that government authorities speak of ‘rich and poor, and ‘young and old,’ in the context of healthcare systems, however in reality we are dealing with the pressures of privileged social groups. After such disintegration, there can be hope that these systems will be consolidated on a rational and lasting basis.

The First Economic Forum pointed to the great similarities of reforms which have been carried out in tax policy, fiscal policy, pension schemes and healthcare throughout Central-Eastern European countries (Czech, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary and Lithuania). However the comparative analysis presented also indicated the existence of a close relationship between the pace of economic growth in these countries and the depth of the structural reforms undertaken.

CONFERENCE PROGRAMME

DAY ONE - April 15, 2005 (Friday)

DAY TWO - April 16, 2005 (Saturday)

PHOTOS

I Lancut Economic Forum - April 15:

First day - registration
Professor Jan Winiecki, Ph.D.
Session I: TAX REFORMS Maciej Grabowski, Martin Chren, Jan Winiecki
Session I: Panel discussion
Session II: FISCAL REFORMS Ondrej Schneider, Jan Zapal, Lars Christensen
Martin Chren, Ph.D. - Director of the F.A. Hayek Foundation (FAHF)
Maciej Grabowski, Ph.D. - Vice President of IBnGR
Discussion after First Day Forum

I Lancut Economic Forum - April 16:

Session III: PENSION SYSTEMS REFORM Ryszard Petru, Zoltan Adam, Jan Winiecki
Panel discussion
Session IV: HEALTH SYSTEMS REFORMS Ewelina Nojszewska, Peter Mihalyi, Jan Winiecki
Professor Ewelina Nojszewska, Ph.D. - Warsaw School of Economics
Professor Peter Mihalyi, Ph.D. - Central European University
The Park Surrounding Lancut Castle
Group photo in front of the Lancut Castle