{"id":18387,"date":"2026-08-17T07:59:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T05:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mkt.hu\/?p=18387"},"modified":"2026-08-24T08:05:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T06:05:00","slug":"vegso-bucsut-vettunk-kadar-belatol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mkt.hu\/en\/2026\/08\/17\/vegso-bucsut-vettunk-kadar-belatol\/","title":{"rendered":"A Final Farewell to B\u00e9la K\u00e1d\u00e1r"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Friday, 7 August, we bid a final farewell to B\u00e9la K\u00e1d\u00e1r<\/strong>, Academician, Sz\u00e9chenyi Prize-winning economist and Honorary Lifetime President of the Hungarian Economic Association (HEA)<\/strong>. B\u00e9la K\u00e1d\u00e1r was commemorated by P\u00e9ter Halmai<\/strong>, Academician, President of the HAS Section of Economics and Law (Section IX), and President of the HEA Section of Economic Policy and Economic Theory. The speech delivered by Academician P\u00e9ter Halmai at the funeral ceremony is available on our website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dear Bereaved Family Members, Relatives and Friends,<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We stand here today in profound sorrow. Beyond his immediate family and friends, Hungarian economics, the professional community and public life more broadly have suffered an immense loss. Yet, alongside the pain of farewell and our deep sadness, this is also an opportunity to briefly reflect on an exceptional life and body of work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

B\u00e9la K\u00e1d\u00e1r was born in P\u00e9cs on 21 March 1934. His father, Lajos K\u00e1d\u00e1r, was a primary school headmaster, and his mother was Ter\u00e9z Schmidt. His family provided him with values that remained with him throughout his life. His deeply rooted and steadfast civic values offered him a reliable compass throughout the often turbulent realities of Hungary over the past nearly century. His exceptional breadth of knowledge and command of languages\u2014qualities rightly admired by many\u2014were also rooted in this family environment and further strengthened by the excellent schools of his beloved hometown. Among them was the Cistercian secondary school, today known as the Nagy Lajos Grammar School, whose honour board has for many years borne B\u00e9la K\u00e1d\u00e1r\u2019s name in marble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1956, he graduated in finance from the University of Economics and began working as an economist. As a visiting student, he also studied history and Spanish at the Faculty of Humanities of E\u00f6tv\u00f6s Lor\u00e1nd University (ELTE).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After this formative period, his career can be divided into three main stages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From 1960 onwards, research and teaching became his principal fields of activity for three decades. At the Institute for Economic and Market Research, he headed the research group focusing on developing countries. At the time, the institute served as a refuge for highly qualified professionals with excellent language skills who were considered politically unreliable by the regime. B\u00e9la K\u00e1d\u00e1r remained a close and loyal observer of the institute and its successors until the end of his life. Alongside his main position, he taught descriptive grammar and Latin American history in the Spanish Department of the Faculty of Humanities at ELTE. From 1965 to 1988, he worked at the HAS Institute for World Economics (VGI), serving successively as a researcher, head of a scientific department and director of research. Between 1988 and 1990, he was Director of the Institute for Economic Planning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1967\u20131968, he was a Ford Foundation Fellow at Harvard University. He subsequently taught in Chile and at the University of San Marcos in Lima, Peru. He delivered lectures at some eighty universities and research institutes abroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He had the opportunity to start a new life abroad. He despised the regime then in power, but his profound patriotism kept him from emigrating. He was not one of the regime\u2019s favourites. Yet, in that era, the HAS Institute for World Economics\u2014as was the case with other HAS research institutes\u2014provided opportunities for independent and autonomous scholarly work. Much credit for this was due to its founding director, Academician J\u00f3zsef Bogn\u00e1r. Bogn\u00e1r supported B\u00e9la K\u00e1d\u00e1r as well, although in private, with his characteristic reserve, he once remarked: \u201cIt is not easy to be your boss.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite attacks from certain dogmatic figures, his academic career continued on a steady upward trajectory. In 1970, he obtained the degree of Candidate of Economic Sciences, and in 1980 he became Doctor of Economic Sciences. The circumstances of his doctoral procedure in 1980 provide a telling illustration of the era and, at the same time, of B\u00e9la K\u00e1d\u00e1r\u2019s integrity. During his public defence, one member of the examining committee put what appeared at the time to be a threatening question to the candidate: was the dissertation he had submitted actually a Marxist work at all? B\u00e9la K\u00e1d\u00e1r answered with a firm no. Such an answer carried considerable weight in those days. To the credit of the committee members and his fellow economists, all but the one questioner strongly supported the awarding of the academic degree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A defining feature of his entire career was his commitment to public service. From the late 1980s to the early 2000s, during the second stage of his career, public life came to the fore. This was not driven by personal ambition, but by a sense of duty and the desire to fulfil the public responsibilities created by history. While serving as Director of the Institute for Economic Planning, he was invited to participate, as a member of the H\u00edd Group, in the conceptual preparations for Hungary\u2019s transition to a market economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From 1990, he served for four years as Minister for International Economic Relations in the government of J\u00f3zsef Antall. He was a Member of Parliament for eight years and, from 1994 to 1998, chaired the Parliamentary Budget Committee. He subsequently served briefly as Chairman of EXIMBANK, and then represented Hungary as Ambassador to the OECD in Paris. At the same time, he became a member of one of the country\u2019s most important economic bodies, the Central Bank Council, and later its successor, the Monetary Council, of which he remained a member until autumn 2008.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the third and final stage of his career, science once again came to the centre of his work, together with a synthesis of the experience accumulated throughout his life. In 2001, he was elected a Corresponding Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and in 2007 a Full Member. He was also a Full Member of the Saint Stephen Academy of Sciences. He held positions in numerous academic bodies. From 1990 onwards, he served as Vice-President, President and ultimately Honorary Lifetime President of the Hungarian Economic Association (HEA)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His work earned him numerous prestigious academic and public distinctions. Among others, he received the German Prize for the Social Market Economy, honorary doctorates from the University of San Marcos in Lima and several other universities, and the Commander’s Cross with the Star of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary. In 2019, his outstanding academic achievements were recognised with the Sz\u00e9chenyi Prize<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His main fields of research included comparative economic policy, modernisation, economic growth and trends in international economic cooperation. He analysed, from a comparative perspective, the national and regional characteristics and lessons associated with different development paths, paying particular attention to Latin American countries and the challenges faced by middle-income economies. His research into the limitations of inward-looking, import-substitution-based economic growth, as well as his work identifying structural changes emerging in the global economy with lasting consequences, attracted considerable international attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2007, for his inaugural lecture as a Full Member of the Academy, he borrowed the title of a lecture delivered more than a century earlier by Academician Lajos L\u00e1ng, the founding president of the HEA and his predecessor. Under the title Our Deficits<\/em>, he subjected the deeper, systemic obstacles to Hungary\u2019s economic and social advancement to an uncompromising critique. His concluding words remain highly relevant today:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cOnly the appreciation and ennoblement of human resources can provide a way out, a remedy. A comprehensive moral, political and intellectual renewal of society and ourselves, a culture of consensus, a vision of the future developed on a multidisciplinary scientific basis, and the consistent implementation of a long-term national strategy can remove the constraints and deficits holding back the nation\u2019s development. Even today, it is not unfounded to hope that we can change our destiny.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

An exceptional feature of his career was that, during the period of Hungary\u2019s transition, he also became one of the key architects of economic policy, particularly in the field of international economic relations. He believed that the marketisation and economic convergence of the Hungarian economy could only be achieved through export-oriented support for businesses and the expansion of supply. As a result of his economic diplomacy, Hungary liberalised its trade policy, became the first country to be removed from the COCOM list, strengthened its relations with the OECD and the European Union, and saw an intensive inflow of foreign capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An important element of his rich legacy was his sense of responsibility for the fate of the nation and for Hungarians living beyond Hungary\u2019s borders. He always had the courage to insist that the country\u2019s advancement required a decisive and carefully considered government strategy and action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

B\u00e9la K\u00e1d\u00e1r was a profound and humble scholar as well as a responsible public figure, and a remarkably colourful Renaissance man. We admired his exceptional erudition and command of languages. He had a great love of music, and even towards the end of his life, playing the piano brought him joy. His favourite sport was horse riding. His exceptional, ironic sense of humour was also a source of great pleasure for his circle of friends. He paid close attention to the careers of young research colleagues and provided them with effective support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He always strove for objectivity. He liked to quote Tacitus: Sine ira et studio<\/em>\u2014without anger or bias. He was characterised by wise contemplation and a search for deeper connections. He avoided superficial and meaningless arguments. All this lent particular weight to his words whenever he expressed an opinion. He was an attentive and tolerant participant in profound debates, whose contributions had a lasting impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout his life, he fought for quality. He found mediocrity difficult to tolerate. His patriotism was one reason for this. He shared the view expressed by S\u00e1ndor M\u00e1rai: \u201cHungary \u2026 can live and survive in the new Europe only by demanding quality; we cannot afford to be mediocre.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

B\u00e9la K\u00e1d\u00e1r represented economics and the professional vocation of the economist throughout his life, both before and after the transition to democracy and a market economy. This was why he frequently found himself in conflict in both periods, at times even with members of his own government. His outstanding economic analyses and writings, which revealed the relationships shaping the development of the global economy and national economies, continue to provide profound guidance to economists and policymakers today. His personality, integrity, moral strength and patriotism likewise remain an example to us all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We will preserve his memory, his intellectual legacy and his life\u2019s work with deep respect and reverence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

May he rest in peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On Friday, 7 August, we bid a final farewell to B\u00e9la K\u00e1d\u00e1r, Academician, Sz\u00e9chenyi Prize-winning economist and Honorary Lifetime President of the Hungarian Economic Association (HEA). B\u00e9la K\u00e1d\u00e1r was commemorated by P\u00e9ter Halmai, Academician, President of the HAS Section of Economics and Law (Section IX), and President of the HEA Section of Economic Policy and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13835,"featured_media":18383,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hirek"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-12 05:37:54","action":"category","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mkt.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mkt.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mkt.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mkt.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13835"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mkt.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18387"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mkt.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18387\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18391,"href":"https:\/\/mkt.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18387\/revisions\/18391"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mkt.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mkt.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mkt.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mkt.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}