In Hungary the eighteen years period passed since the change of political regime has seen the formation of a socio-economic pattern in which there are practically no middle class in that sense of Western European society. People are better off than in the past across a range of measures but the benefits are not spread equally: there are winners or losers of the transition but nobody between. Strong and increasing polarization of the society has now become an obstacle to economic and social progress. The paper analyses the possibility to increase the efficacy of the national economy in a totally new way as it admits the very important – even if indirect – role of the social cohesion and solidarity. If one cannot require effective work, responsible and rational decisions from tired, frustrated and more and more indifferent people all those factors which are capable to stop and reverse this process have a strong indirect effect on the economic performance of the country. The reorganisation of the taxation system towards wealth tax and the decentralisation of decision making on public spending could boost Hungary’s integration into Europe and its social and economic development.
