Editing Economy of Hungary (section)

=== Post-war Hungarian communism ===

From the late 1940s, the [[Communist]] government started to nationalize the industry. At first, only factories with more than 100 workers were nationalized; later, this limit was reduced to only 10. In the agriculture, the government started a successful program of [[Collectivization in Hungary|collectivization]]. From the early 1950s, more and more new factories were built. This rapid and forced industrialization followed the standard [[Stalinist]] pattern in an effort to encourage a more self-sufficient economy. Most economic activity was conducted by state-owned enterprises or cooperatives and state farms. In 1968, [[Stalinist]] self-sufficiency was replaced by the "[[New Economic Mechanism]]", which reopened Hungary to foreign trade, gave limited freedom to the workings of the market, and allowed a limited number of small businesses to operate in the services sector.	

In this era great social progress was made, for example the population between 20 and 24 years old with less than 8 years of education decreased from 71.2% in 1949 to 4.9% in 1984, the annual consumption of meat and fish increased from 35 kilograms in 1950 to 78 in 1984, the percentage of homes with electricity increased from 46.6% in 1949 to 99% in 1984, in the same period the percentage of homes with running water increased from 17.1% to 76.6%, the number of cars per 1,000 people increased from 3 in 1960 to 122 in 1984, in the case of televisions from 10 to 276, in the case of washing machines from 45 to 317, in the case of refrigerators from 4 to 328, infant mortality (per 1,000 live births) fell from 91 in 1949 to 20.4 in 1984.<ref name="auto3">{{Cite journal |last1=Andorka |first1=Rudolf |last2=Harcsa |first2=István |date=1990 |title=Modernization in Hungary in the Long and Short Run Measured by Social Indicators |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/27520838 |journal=Social Indicators Research |volume=23 |issue=1/2 |pages=1–199 |doi=10.1007/BF00353421 |jstor=27520838 |issn=0303-8300}}</ref>	

Per capita national income grew by 343% from 1950 to 1983 (4.6% per year), real wages by 136% and real incomes by 251% over the same period,meanwhile real value of per capita social benefits rose by 432% from 1960 to 1980.        From 1949 to 1984, Hungary's GDP grew as fast as that of countries like Spain.<ref name="auto3"/><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bródy |first=A. |date=1995 |title=The Hungarian Gdp, as Measured by Proxies (appraisal of the Short-Cut Method of F. Jánossy) |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40729605 |journal=Acta Oeconomica |volume=47 |issue=1/2 |pages=69–94 |jstor=40729605 |issn=0001-6373}}</ref><ref>Escosura,L.P. (2003) : https://www.fbbva.es/wp-content/uploads/2003/09/DE_2003_LPrados_El_progreso_economico.pdf</ref>	

Also poverty was greatly reduced,although from 1962 to 1982 the price index rose by 96%, people with less than 800 forints were 55% in 1962 and after 20 years only 6.4% of those with less than 1800 forints,In 1987, inequality was minimal, with a Gini coefficient of 0.21, and poverty was the same, with a 1% poverty rate (poverty line: $120 PPP per person per month).<ref name="auto3"/><ref>Milanović, Branko (1998). ''Income, Inequality and Poverty during the Transition from Planned to Market Economy.'' Washington, D. C.: Banco Mundial http://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/229251468767984676/pdf/multi-page.pdf</ref>	

Although Hungary enjoyed one of the most liberal and economically advanced economies of the former [[Eastern Bloc]] even though at the end of the 80s state employment represented 94% of the total,both agriculture and industry began to suffer from a lack of investment in the 1970s, and Hungary's net foreign debt rose significantly—from $1&nbsp;billion in 1973 to $15&nbsp;billion in 1993—due largely to consumer subsidies and unprofitable state enterprises. In the face of economic stagnation, Hungary opted to liberalize further by passing a joint venture law, instating an income tax, and joining the [[International Monetary Fund]] ([[IMF]]) and the [[World Bank]]. By 1988, Hungary had developed a [[two-tier banking system]], and had enacted significant corporate legislation that paved the way for the ambitious market-oriented reforms of the post-communist years.