The Problems of Domestic Economic Policy – Interview with Dr. Iván Bélyácz, Academician and University Professor, and Erzsébet Szász, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences of the Partium Christian University

Abstract

The present study analyzes the structural and operational problems of domestic economic policy over the past sixteen years through a comprehensive expert interview conducted with Academician Dr. Iván Bélyácz, university professor, and Erzsébet Szász, associate professor at the Partium Christian University. The interviewees point out that the "political governance" established after 2010, which is based on strong state intervention, has created a distorted, dual economic structure that has largely eliminated market competition. The conversation reveals how the concentrated allocation of resources—reminiscent of planned economy methods—such as the favoring of megaprojects, government-affiliated companies, and multinational corporations producing low added value, hinders the scaling up and innovation of domestic small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The experts also emphasize severe anomalies in risk-sharing: in the current system, the state passes on the economic, social, and environmental burdens of flawed decisions, while privileged actors are exempted from genuine market control. They conclude that instead of supporting dead-end, extensive industrial developments, there must be a return to market valuation. The prerequisites for this include reducing the administrative burdens on the SME sector (deregulation), prioritizing knowledge-based services, and restoring a predictable, transparent, and normative state regulatory environment where companies once again become the primary drivers of strategy-making and risk-taking.