ON PENSION REFORM (A nyugdijreformrol)

The author argues that although Hungary's pension is inherited, that is no barrier to envisaging the undoubtedly needful reform as a transition to an ideal goal of a 'best-present-knowledge' goal model for a pension system, i.e. constructing the goal model and devising the route to it must be seen together. The study charts the development of state or 'levy/ distribute' pension systems and describes the single great welfare programme of 20th-century history, which attained its political and social-policy aims. The period of reforms came in the 1980s, which the author calls the end of temporariness and the creation of permanence. Finding the solution was made harder because economics failed to describe the situation and reform thinking was dominated by the dichotomy of capital funded and levy/distribute. This was a blind alley; it became clear only later that the real distinction was between contributions and annuities. That led to the mistaken reform of the Hungarian pension system in 1997, which unwittingly became an obstacle to joining the Euro zone. Finally, the author proposes a new method of budgetary recording of the pension system and the creation of a new pension reform.