ABSTRACT
Hungarian economic policy is thus characterized by a series of measures aimed at external liberalization. Hungary accumulated a huge external debt during the 1970s and 1980s, without using the money to promote the opening up of the economy. Hungary's level of development is higher than most of the countries whose experience the vast literature on external liberalization discusses. Its industry's share in total output and employment is close to that of many developed market economies. During the 1970s and 1980s, one of the major aims of Hungary's foreign economic diplomacy was to try to "sell" the Hungarian economic system in general, and its foreign trade regime in particular, to international organizations as if it were basically similar to those of the developed market economies. Until recently, Hungarian firms were almost totally protected from foreign competition. Hungary's exporters to the West are at a disadvantage as compared to supplying the domestic market and in relation to their Western competitors.
