Among many reports about the infamous camps of the Stalinist Soviet Union there have been very few attempts to define the economic role of these institutions. Our analysis provides some new information about the camps and analyses their historic antecedents as well as economicv policy linkages.

The National Union of Teachers organised a discussion forum for Hungarian political scientists to find out what political role trade unions should play in the new situation. Under the government os Socialists and Libetals, unions have not been exposed to political attacks as before but austerity measures imposed upon the society by multilateral financial organisations have posed questions that cannot easily be answered. 

A comparative survey of unemplyment experiences of Argentina, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden. The ambiguity of unemployment in the criteria for evaluating the performance of policy-makers and three different cultures among unemployed are outlined. An overview of what is known about the consequences of unemployment in terms of excess iollness and mortality is given.

The two countries have been in similar economic situation, although they followed different patterns in the destruction of the state socialist regime. Their experience suggests, for example, that the legality and legitimacy of the transition process show a trade off relation. The paper was delivered for the 5th World Congress of ICCEES in Warshaw.

Migration is not new in the world economy, nevertheless public discourse has been domibated by ideas of liberal idealism instead of historic materialism. Liberals usually talk about the supply side of migration, while it can be proved that the process is always dominated and regulated by the demand side. For most of the 20th century the demand side has been represented by the US economy.