FDI in Hungary : The Post-Communist Privatization Story Reconsidered

This paper explores the theoretical possibility of re-interpreting the conventional wisdom of the transition economy literature on privatization. Around 1989/90 the emphasis had been put on de-etatization and good corporate governance and little attention was paid to the necessity of integrating the Eastern economies into the network of transnational corporations (TNCs). Today, it is clear that this is the name of the game. Without TNCs, privatization simply doesn't produce the expected results. Based on the experience of Hungary, this paper describes an alternative model where the key policy variable is rise of manufacturing exports. It is argued that for resource-poor transition economies privatization to foreign strategic investors is the single most important question of the ownership revolution. Once this policy is advanced, the rise in exports can help to underpin macroeconomic stability. In other words divesting the manufacturing sector to TNCs is the beginning of a positive circle, where large and well publicised sell-offs help to attract portfolio investors and greenfield investors as well