HESO Project - Evaluation of Economic and Social Measures

One of the objectives of non-profit organizations should be monitoring of perspective measures/reforms in order to push forward the economic and social transformation, as well as trying to influence public awareness and to increase public acceptance of measures and policies, that speed up transformation toward a democratic, transparent political system buttressed by civil society and competitive market economy and lead to life quality improvements from a long-term perspective.

With this in mind, INEKO has launched the HESO (Evaluation of Economic and Social Measures) project, which creates a platform, where independent economists, analysts, journalists, academics, people from business community, representatives of trade unions, employers´ associations and NGOs express their opinions on quality and importance of different proposed and passed economic and social measures of legislature, executive power, as well as on decisions of public institutions on a quarterly basis.

Without the necessity of studying a number of details, Slovak citizens have thus an opportunity to acquire a reliable overview of what economic and social measures and reforms are being prepared and put into practise and what opinion in their respect has been adopted by renowned experts. From the beginning of the HESO project in April 2000 to the end of 2001, 71 specialists expressed their views upon 174 measures. In 2002 69 experts assessed 100 measures and in 2003 71 experts evaluated another 100 measures. From their standpoints, we can read out which measures significantly contributed and still contribute to the social and economic development of Slovakia and which just hindered and hinder this process.

The ambition and the major objective of the HESO project is not to provide a comprehensive and detailed monitoring of the development in individual areas of our society, nor is it the provision of starting points for the action of competent authorities, but we aim at regularly providing our citizens with an opinion of professional community on often discussed, important, innovative, or unprecedented measures of economic or social character affecting the quality of their life. And thus we create better preconditions for political acceptance of structural measures - reforms - bringing forth systemic changes in the Slovak economy and society.

The aim of the HESO project is also to disseminate information on social and especially economic reforms in multiple countries, which are presently under transformation. In 2002 Institute of Economic Studies of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic, Gdansk Institute for Market Economics in Poland and partners from Central European University in Budapest, Hungary participated in the HESO project.

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The Rating of the Quarter / the Rating of the Year is an average of all ratings of measures passed in relevant quarter / year. It reflects Experts´ Committee´s opinion on quality and importance of all evaluated measures passed in relevant quarter / year and indicates the reform atmosphere in the country of the given period.

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Notes: Parliamentary Elections - September 2002

Dušan Zachar - HESO Project Coordinator