Loitering on the "dirt roads" of the "lost decade"

The author provides a systemic overview of the consequences of the recent financial and economic crisis and of the anti-crisis activities both globally and in selected countries. Special attention is given to the post-crisis situation in the EU, in particular, in Hungary. The article assesses the results of various anti-crisis measures and describes various aspects of such urgent issues as national debt, international anti-crisis cooperation, changes in the international trade rules, Basel Accords on financial regulation, Doha Development Agenda, supervision on banking activities and some others. There is a detailed retrospective overview of the political component of Hungary's anti-crisis measures and the EU reaction to them. The conclusion gives an outlook of the longer term prospects of economic developments in the context of the crisis and the corresponding changes in economic and political patterns.