The Institute of Economics, although a relatively new institute within the Faculty of Economics and Business of the University of Debrecen, builds on fields with several decades of history and professional experience within the Faculty and its predecessor organizational units. The Institute includes the Departments of Micro- and Macroeconomics, Agricultural Policy and Environmental Economics, and Agricultural Economics, which define the educational and research profile of the Institute.
The Institute's staff participates in teaching tasks for almost all undergraduate and master's programs offered by the Faculty of Economics and Business. They also contribute to the work of other university faculties (e.g., Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences and Environmental Management, Faculty of Science and Technology, Faculty of Informatics) and the Károly Ihrig Doctoral School, with several colleagues being core members of the latter.
Many colleagues from the Institute are members or leaders of national and international professional and scientific committees, editorial boards of scientific journals, and other professional/interprofessional organizations. The Institute is responsible for the Agricultural Economics and Business Economics master's programs, the Municipal Leaders' specialized training program, and plays a dominant role in managing the accredited Agricultural and Rural Development Engineer undergraduate program in the field of agricultural sciences.
One of the most important fundamental tasks and missions of the Institute is to acquaint students with the basics of economic thinking. This is primarily done through a "course block” in the undergraduate programs, which encompasses subjects taught in English such as Introduction to Economics, Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, and International Economics. Another mission in education is to foster environmental awareness among students and to sensitize them to corporate environmental issues and sustainable development goals (SDGs). The teaching and research activities related to agricultural policy and agricultural economics focus not only on regional or national economic issues but also on the operation of EU-level systems.
The Institute specializes in one of the applied fields of economics, agricultural economics, which deals with both microeconomic and macroeconomic issues; a good example of the former is agricultural business management, and of the latter, agricultural economics as a field. The Department of Agricultural Economics upholds the traditions of the "Debrecen School of Business Management" founded by great predecessors (Iván Gönczi, Béla Kádár, László Vadász, József Tóth, János Borsos, Ernő Pfau, Zsolt Nemessályi, Gábor Szabó, Imre Ertsey) and integrates them into its daily operations.
Sustainability issues are prominently featured in the Institute's R&D activities, with a particular focus on the complex analysis of the feasibility of sustainable development goals (SDGs) at macro, meso, and micro levels. Furthermore, the Institute's research profile is fundamentally characterized by a sectoral and product-chain-centric approach, while basic economic research is also strongly present. Current research primarily deals with agricultural economic and business issues, sectoral economics, and agricultural policy. We particularly focus on the following areas at both national and European levels: the EU and Hungary's food economy, pig and grain sectors, cattle sector and dairy product chain, aquaculture, poultry product chain, and regional water management.
One direction of basic research examines the macroeconomic impacts of institutions and economic policies—such as monetary policy, fiscal policy, the general level of economic freedom, or exchange rate policy—and explores the determinants of these institutions and policies. Another direction investigates the environmental impacts of economic policy, specifically examining the institutional and economic policy conditions for sustainable development.
The Institute's staff regularly prepare sectoral analyses, strategic plans, economic and market analyses, and forecasts at the request of product councils, professional organizations, financial institutions, and the Ministry of Agriculture. We continuously integrate the results of our research activities and expert work into our teaching, striving to provide students with the most up-to-date and modern knowledge.
Head of the institute:
- Prof. Dr. István Szűcs, Professor
Secretary:
- Ibolya Tóthné Rajtik Managing Expert
Professor Emeritus:
- Prof.Dr. László Losonczi, Professor Emeritus
Departments:
- Department of Agricultural Economics
- Dr. László Szőllősi, Associate Professor, Head of Department
- Dr. Péter Popovics, Associate Professor
- Dr. Szilvia Kertész-Molnár, Senior Lecturer
- Dr. Krisztián Kovács, Senior Lecturer
- Dr. Laura Mihály-Karnai Senior Lecturer
- Dr. Tamás Marczin, Assistant Lecturer
- Department of Agricultural Policy and Environmental Economics
- Prof. Dr. Mónika Rákos, Professor, Head of Department
- Prof. Dr. István Szűcs, Professor
- Dr. Andrea Bauerné Gáthy, Associate Professor
- Dr. Dániel Fróna, Senior Lecturer
- Dr. Piroska Harazin, Senior Lecturer
- Dr. Levente Nádasi Sándor, Senior Lecturer
- Department of Micro- and Macroeconomics
- Prof. Dr. Pál Czeglédi, Professor, Head of Department
- Dr. Karcagi-Kováts Andrea, Associate Professor
- Dr. Judit Edit Futó, Senior Lecturer
- Dr. Andrea Gáspár, Senior Lecturer
- Dr. Andrea Szabó, Senior Lecturer
- Orsolya Szendrey, Assistant Lecturer
- PhD students:
- László Arany, Phd Student
- Mihály Bogdán, Phd Student
- Eya Hidri, Phd Student
- Aliz Feketéné Ferenczi, Phd Student
- Norbert Gergely, Phd Student
- Edit Veronika Kovács, Phd Student
- Dalila Nouar, Phd Student
- Mercédesz Pók, Phd Student
- Zsolt Rácz, Phd Student
- Bence Tarnóczi, Phd Student
- Aliz Vuk, Phd Student