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TÁRKI Social Research Institute is an independent, employee-owned research organisation that specialises in policy research in the fields of social policy and the social consequences of economic policies. This includes related data-collection, archiving and statistical activities. We recently increased our involvement in the areas of strategic market research and health policy analysis. In addition, we regularly contribute to basic research, in the areas of social stratification and inequality, and to the methodology of empirical social research.
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27 January 2012

TARKI appears on global think tanks' ranking

TARKI Social Research Institute was ranked on the 30th place on the list of The Think Tanks and Civil Society Program among the Top Social Policy Think Tanks in 2011. The program produces the annual Global Go-To Think Tank Index that ranks the leading think tanks with the help of a panel of over 1500 peer institutions and experts from the print and electronic media, academia, public and private donor institutions and policymakers.

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25 January 2012

Cultures and/of Globalization - publication from the ENRI-EAST project

New study of Lyudmila Nurse and Endre Sik, titled "Identities and Music: Identity of Place and Cultural Identities of Generations. Hungarian 3G Case Study", has been published in the book "Cultures and/of Globalization". Read and download the table of contents and introduction of the book.

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05 January 2012

Support for transnational access to official microdata

The Tarki Databank is pleased to inform the international research community about the first call for research proposals by the FP-7 EU project: Data without Boundaries. To enhance access across borders to official microdata for comparative research, Data without Boundaries provides a unique opportunity to work with confidential data from a number of European countries.

For details see the pdf file or please visit the DwB website.
02 January 2012

Euborderregions Newsletter

The second newsletter of the EUBORDERREGIONS' project is now available! Stay tuned for up-to-date information from fascinating borderlands "on the edge" of our greater regional Neighbourhood!

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02 December 2011

Summary of year 2011 in TARKI

Warm seasons greetings from the TARKI Social Research Institute! This year was an exciting year for us and we have reason to believe that 2012 will bring much more.

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02 December 2011

Indebtedness of households and debt management in Hungary

TARKI Social Research Institute, in cooperation with Habitat for Humanity Hungary prepared a country report focusing on the effectiveness of programs and provisions targeting the prevention and management of indebtedness. Research results reveal that while one in four Hungarians have gotten into arrears with their housing costs and real estate loans, programs and provisions targeting indebtedness have reached only around 10,000 people.

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23 November 2011

Our colleague, Kriszta Dávid has qualified for the 2012 Paralympic Games in London!

Our colleague, Kriszta Dávid, has qualified to compete in the 2012 Paralympic Games in London after reaching third place at the 2011 IPC Shooting World Cup in Sydney. Congratulations Kriszta!





27 October 2011

The Slovak Minority in Hungary - new TARKI report in the ENRI-EAST project

TARKI's report gives a comprehensive overview about the Slovak minority in Hungary. The report summarizes Hungarian and Slovakian minority relations, the main findings of the ENRI-VIS survey and includes all biographical interviews.

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21 October 2011

Population aging and the generational economy: A global perspective

TARKI senior researchers Róbert Iván Gál and Márton Medgyesi were contributors to the 2011 book Population ageing and the generational economy: A global perspective produced by Edward Elgar Publishing.

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31 May 2011

Child Well-Being in the European Union - Better monitoring instruments for better policies

coverTÁRKI Social Research Institute has prepared a background paper for the Hungarian EU presidency that aims at contributing to the child mainstreaming process within the European Union through the improvement of monitoring tools in the field. The background paper is available now online.

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The report was presented at the 14 June ISG meeting.

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05 May 2011

Professor Tamás Rudas, academic director of TARKI, was awarded the Academic Award

TARKI Social Research Institute proudly announces that Professor Tamás Rudas was awarded the Academic Award by the president of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences for eminent scholarly work on analyses of categorical data and fitness of log-linear models. Professor Rudas is a Doctor of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, head of the Department of Statistics at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Eötvös Loránd University as well as academic director of TARKI Social Research Institute.

21 December 2010

GINI - Growing Inequalities' Impacts

TÁRKI participates in major inequality research in Europe: GINI - Growing Inequalities' Impacts (FP7, DG Research, Contract no. SSH-CT-2010-244592). The core objective of GINI is to deliver what are the social, cultural and political impacts that increasing inequalities in income, wealth and education may have? For the answers, GINI combines an interdisciplinary analysis that draws on economics, sociology, political science and health studies, with improved methodologies, uniform measurement, wide country coverage, a clear policy dimension and broad dissemination.

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20 December 2010

Social Situation Observatory

TÁRKI, as a member of a consortium lead by Applica, Brussels (other consortium members: University of Essex and Eurocentre, Vienna) produces annual monitoring reports on trends of income distribution and social inclusion in Europe. The reports cover general income distribution trends, poverty and social inclusion as well as analytic work on causes and main determinants.

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10 May 2010

Workshop about Conditional Cash Transfers

Tárki has organised a workshop about activating social policies on 7th May 2010. The World Bank book on Conditional Cash Transfers has been presented and discussed. Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai addressed the conference with a speech on "Breakaway from poverty - mutual responsibility".

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23 March 2010

Study on Child Poverty and Child Well-Being in the EU

Children are an especially vulnerable group because of their dependent status and because they can only partly influence their own well-being. They are also our future: lack of opportunities during childhood all too often will have long-term consequences for the individuals concerned and for society as a whole. Swift action will instead pay off now as well as bear fruit in the years to come by breaking the vicious cycle of the inter-generational transmission of poverty.

Combating child poverty and improving child well-being have therefore become key issues on the policy agenda of the EU and Members States. Following the work carried out in 2007 and 2008 by the European Commission and the Member States in the context of the European Strategy for Social Inclusion, notably the report prepared by the EU Task-Force on Child Poverty and Child Well-Being, a new study has been launched this year to contribute to the development of more coherent and integrated policies in this area. The study was carried out by TARKI Social Research Institute (Budapest), in collaboration with Applica (Brussels).

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TÁRKI European Social Report 2009

TÁRKI European Social Report 2009 cover This book, the second in the series, seeks to contribute to a better understanding of the similarities and differences between the European societies of the enlarged European Union. The report concentrates on the perceptions, opinions and attitudes of Europeans. From the wide range of potential issues we selected those fields that are most relevant to economic activity.

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19 June 2009

European Inequalities: Social Inclusion and Income Distribution in the European Union

This book summarizes four years of research on social inclusion and income distribution across the European Union carried out in the framework of the European Observatory on the Social Situation and Demography, which has been established by the Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities of the European Commission.

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TÁRKI Lifepath Analysis of Hungarian Households: a 2007 update of the Hungarian Household Panel 1992-1997

TARKI Lifepath Analysis of Hungarian Households cover TÁRKI has completed a follow-up research of the Hungarian Household Panel (the flagship Hungarian panel survey covering a 2600 initial sample of households and the individuals living in them). The study aimed at monitoring the labour market, income, wealth and opinion changes of the original sample after 15 years of the base survey and 10 years of the last wave, with a success of being able to complete interviews with almost 2700 individuals.

Download project summary (pdf)

Project website: http://www.tarki.hu/hev/

Download the full Hungarian report (pdf)

More on the Hungarian Household panel Survey: http://www.tarki.hu/en/projects/social/index.html#hhp

TÁRKI Social Report 2008

social report cover The series of social reports monitor the economic, social and political developments of the Hungarian society in both time series and comparative perspective. The most recent issue of the biannual series (in Hungarian) is out in bookstores or can be purchased via http://www.tarsadalomkutatas.hu/




Growing Unequal? Income Distribution and Poverty in OECD countries

TÁRKI has participated in a major OECD study on income distribution and poverty. The report - entitled "Growing Unequal?" - covers all OECD countries and addresses various topics, such as the extent and evolution of income inequalities, the main drivers of inequalities, the characteristics of poverty, and additional features of inequality such intergenerational mobility and the distribution of household wealth. TÁRKI has been the provider of the Hungarian data on income inequality and poverty and also provided expertise on European income distribution. The press material and selected tables can be downloaded from http://www.oecd.org/els/social/inequality (the entire report is downloadable only for subscribers).

TÁRKI European Social Report

TÁRKI European Social Report cover This new study prepared and published by TÁRKI Social Research Institute provides an overview of demographic, labour market, income and housing situation of households in Europe. The basic data source used is the "Community Statistics on Income and Living Conditions" survey of the European Union (EUSILC) of 2005, accompanied by a number of other sources with a Europe-wide focus.

pdfDownload the whole report (pdf)

Download by chapters:

pdfCover page (pdf)
pdfContents, executive summary (pdf)
pdfChapter 1 (Demography) (pdf)
pdfChapter 2 (Labour market) (pdf)
pdfChapter 3 (Income distribution) (pdf)
pdfChapter 4 (Housing and material conditions) (pdf)

TÁRKI has a strong tradition of social reporting that aims to elucidate Hungarian and European socio-economic trends and their evolution over time. Earlier series of social reports include:

Social Report Series
TÁRKI Household Monitor Report
Changing roles

An overview of the TÁRKI social reporting activities can be viewed here

TÁRKI Household Monitor Report 2008: 'Distri-Burden'

TÁRKI Household Monitor Report cover The TÁRKI Research Institute is pleased to present the latest in its long-running series of surveys, which offer a rich source of data for research into the Hungarian people's income and labour market position, and for investigations into household budgets, saving patterns and public attitudes to a wide range of subjects.
pdf more (pdf)
pdf see Hungarian version (pdf)

Inequalities in EU countries - results based on OECD methodology

In October 2007, TÁRKI prepared a research note on income inequality and poverty in the enlarged EU. This research note used the most recent database suitable for international comparative research, the EU Community Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU SILC), year 2005, which was made available for research by the data use contract between Eurostat and TÁRKI. Analysis of income inequality and poverty was based on the methodology elaborated by OECD.
pdf (1K) open research note (pdf)

Ex Ante Evaluation of New Hungary Development Plan

The National Development Agency (NDA) commissioned a consortium led by TÁRKI Social Research Institute (sub-contractor: Kopint-Datorg) to prepare a horizontal evaluation of the effects of the priority axes and interventions defined in the Operational Programmes of the New Hungary Development Plan, according to the criteria set out in the invitation to tender. The horizontal dimensions analysed in the course of the evaluation are as follows: long-term economic development, long-term employment, public finances, disadvantaged social groups and social distribution. A separate executive summary belongs to the evaluation report.
pdf (1K) open executive summary (pdf)

Is Social Europe Fit For Globalisation?

A study on the social impact of globalization in the European Union
The SIMGLOBE study, carried out by a consortium (members: CEPS, Brussels, Bocconi University, Milano, Nottingham University, Nottingham, DIW, Berlin, an TÁRKI, Budapest) led by CEPS, tries to answer the question if social Europe is fit for globalization. It consists of three main parts. The first looks at the background, the facts and the figures about globalisation. The second part focuses on the social dimension, including extensive documentation of EU social conditions, together with more specific work on migration and trends in inequality. The third part then concentrates on the policy challenges. The report (commissioned by the Unit for Social and Demographic Analysis, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities of the European Commission) can be downloaded directly from the DG Employment website.
pdf (1K) open executive summary (pdf - ec.europa.eu) external (1K)
pdf (1K) open full report (pdf - ec.europa.eu) external (1K)
22 February 2007

Release of EU8 Social Inclusion Study

The papers prepared for the EU8 Social Inclusion Study have been posted on the website below. These include papers on social assistance and social exclusion in the first wave of new member states and case study reports prepared by research teams in Hungary, Poland and Estonia.
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TÁRKI, the Social Research Center

TÁRKI has 25 years' experience of empirical social science research in Hungary. Its background includes research on a wide range of issues related to social stratification, labour markets, income distribution, consumption and lifestyle patterns and attitudes, and it has increasingly focused on market research applications. There are various types of research activities that TÁRKI carries out for its clients, but social research is the most important part of its work. This includes:
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