Informačná stránka zamestnanca SAV

Profesijný životopis

(2021). Paradoxes of (il)liberal democracy: the role of Christian Democracy. Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research. Ahead of Print. (pdf)

Studies on the democratic backsliding in Central Eastern Europe (CEE) often focus on local dysfunctions and idiosyncrasies, and they tend to overlook how those authoritarian tendencies are deeply influenced by European integration. I argue that the wave of authoritarianism in CEE is exacerbated by a shared political culture based on Christian Democracy (CD), and instead of divergence between Western and CEE, a form of convergence is happening. I point to CD’s role in responding to the ‘polanyian’ tensions between democracy and liberalism. CD played an important role in shaping the present constitutional and ideational order of the European Union. The ‘illiberal’ policies enacted by several member countries—especially in the domains of Christian identity politics, traditional gender roles, and Bismarckian welfare—come out of the Christian-Democratic political toolbox and exemplify a paradoxical regime of authoritarian liberalism (or politics without policies) that does not threaten the (neo)liberal foundations of the EU.

(2021). The impact of welfare on household debt. Sociological Spectrum, 41(02), 154-176. (pdf) - Winner of the 2021 Egon Matzner Prize for Socioeconomics

This article aims to advance the theoretical understanding of how welfare affects household needs and willingness to take on debt across OECD countries. Previous sociological literature has attempted to explain indebtedness through the quantity of welfare spending, by searching for a tradeoff between the lack of welfare and the increase of household debt. Based on the “life cycle” hypothesis, according to which people take on debt when they are younger and pay it off as they age, this paper argues that divergence in household debt across countries is a function of the welfare state’s orientation toward old-age provisions and the insider/outsider cleavage in the labor market. A welfare state that is generous toward the youth, facilitates the possibility for people to plan ahead in life and, by stabilizing financial expectations, makes people less risk averse. Higher debt ratios are more common in Northern countries as social protection is more extensive; while in continental countries, where welfare benefits are narrower and tend to target the already employed and the elderly, people are more risk-averse toward debt. The proposed theory is supported by an illustrative empirical analysis using data from the OECD SOCX, the Comparative Welfare Entitlements Dataset (CWED2) and the ECRI statistical package.

(2024). Old and hopeless: Gerontocratic welfare, household indebtedness, and economic pessimism in Italy. In U. Glassmann & C. Gräbner-Radkowitsch (Eds.), The Political Economy of Italy and the Centre-Periphery Perspective on Europe (Jahrbuch Ökonomie und Gesellschaft, Vol. 35, pp. 135-163). Marburg, Germany: Metropolis Verlag. (pdf)

This chapter analyses the impact of Italy’s gerontocratic welfare system on household indebtedness and economic pessimism. After outlining the history and conservative nature of Italian welfare, this study employs a comparative approach and structural equation modelling to investigate how the Italian welfare model’s preferential allocation of benefits to the elderly, at the expense of the working-age population, affects economic behaviour and sentiment. This economic outlook is influenced by a preference for the elderly that discourages future-oriented financial practices and risk-taking, such as borrowing.

(2019). "Atif Mian and Amir Sufi: House of Debt“ and "Adair Turner: Between Debt and the Devil: Money, Credit and Fixing the Global Finance". Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review, 55(6), 906-909. (pdf)

(2015). "Greta Krippner: Capitalizing on Crisis: The Political Origins of the Rise of Finance“ and "Wolfgang Streeck: Buying Time: The Delayed Crisis of Democratic Capitalism". Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review, 51(6), 1108-1113. (pdf)

- (2022). Summary of "The impact of welfare on household debt". Der Öffentliche Sektor - The Public Sector. 48(01), 7-8. (pdf)

- (2022). Christian democracy is to blame for Europe’s democratic backsliding. ECPR The Loop.

- with Z. F. Parvez (2021). Socialize Don’t Financialize. Progressive International.

- (2020). The Debt Narrative is Dead Wrong. Progressive International.

Also translated in French, German, Portuguese and Spanish.

- with V. Horváth (2018). What Orbán Knows and His Enemies Don’t. Jacobin.

Also translated in Arabic, Bulgarian, Dutch, French and Russian. Reactions in Hungarian.