ABSTRACT
At the beginning of the 1980s, many Hungarian economists tried to assess the evolution of the economy since the introduction of the 1968 reforms. In 1979 and 1980, a price reform that brought about a return to the goals of 1968 went into effect. The reformist goals were growing more radical in Hungary and heading toward the dismantling of its socialist system, two partial reforms were implemented in areas that had been untouched by radical reforms until then: banking and taxation. Whereas the Polish intellectuals theorized about social change in terms of conflict between civil society and the state, Hungarian dissidents developed the concept of "embourgeoisement" within state socialism. The introduction of a two-tiered banking system promised an increase in the efficiency of the financial system and, as a result, of the economy as a whole. The legal framework for collective agreements at the enterprise and higher levels exists. It includes the formal obligation to negotiate and conclude agreements.
