Hungarian Academy of Sciences

The MTA Library operates two nationally critical programmes beyond its physical collection: the EISZ national electronic information service, which provides centralised licensed database access to every Hungarian research institution; and the MTMT national research bibliography. The 8,870.6 millió Ft goods-and-services line is almost entirely database subscription and licensing costs. Centralised aggregation reduces per-institution costs relative to individual subscriptions — a genuine monopsony public-good function. Private provision would fracture access and raise system-wide costs. The library's own revenue covers 81 percent of its total expenditure. Kept.

The MTA Secretariat administers approximately 200 elected members, coordinates Hungary's national learned-society network, and carries the constitutional mandate to advise the legislature on scientific matters. North's institutional-economics framework places a body maintaining scientific standards in the category of governance infrastructure with positive externalities that markets under-provide. No classification change is warranted for a constitutional institution; a headcount review examining the gap between the 2019 departure of 79 research institutes and the current 9.5 billion Ft secretariat envelope is the appropriate instrument.

The Lendület Programme provides 25–60 millió Ft per year per research group for 3–5 years, selected through peer review and targeted at retaining or attracting talent to Hungary. Since 2009, 164 research groups have been funded; the programme has demonstrated measurable brain-drain reversal. From a classical-liberal perspective, Lendület is the model for public research funding: competitive, merit-based, transparent, time-limited, and targeted at mobility. The 3,941.3 millió Ft envelope should be kept and expanded as the Nemzeti Programok phase-out frees resources. Kept.

The MTA Facility Management Centre manages the Academy's physical estate, including the Székház on the Danube embankment. Its rental income of 2,611.2 millió Ft from market-rate contracts reduces the net fiscal cost to approximately 762 millió Ft. Generating market-rate rental income from state-owned assets is the user-charge model working as intended: the academic estate cross-subsidises its own function without a large central-budget draw. Routine rental contracts should be benchmarked to market rate at each renewal. Kept.

At 3,000.0 millió Ft, Nemzeti Programok funds strategically directed research designated by Academy priorities rather than through open competitive selection. Buchanan and Tullock's analysis of administered priority-setting applies: the selection of research areas is shaped by those controlling the designation process, not by scientific merit. Czech, Polish, and Estonian science systems have shifted envelope share toward competitive grants with measurable quality improvement. A five-year phase-out redirects 600 millió Ft per year to the competitive Lendület and Bolyai channels. Active award holders are grandfathered.

The MTA's staff canteens and recreation facilities concentrate a benefit on a defined group of public-sector employees. The state operating canteens for its own staff is not a core-state function; these are private goods whose provision distorts labour-market comparisons. Own revenue covers 634.5 millió Ft of the 1,256.9 millió Ft operating cost, leaving a net annual subsidy of approximately 622 millió Ft. The five-year phase-out transitions approximately 300–400 welfare-institution staff to market-catering or employer-contribution models rather than abrupt termination.

The Bolyai János Kutatási Ösztöndíj, established in 1997, is a competitive postdoctoral grant addressing a specific human-capital market failure: the gap between PhD completion and research career establishment. Transparent competitive selection among researchers under 45 distributes funds on merit rather than institutional affiliation. This is the correct mechanism for public research support — it decentralises decisions to peer evaluation and enables a genuine discovery process among competing researchers. The 937.5 millió Ft envelope should be maintained and, as directed programmes are reduced, expanded. Kept.

Six regional academic committee secretariats serve as nodes of the Academy's learned-society network outside Budapest — hosting conferences and supporting local scientific communities. The function has coordination public-good characteristics that partially justify the 473.1 millió Ft cost; its own revenue of 84.1 millió Ft covers 18 percent of expenditure. At this scale, the administration cost of abolition approaches the saving. A nominal freeze allows real-terms erosion; a medium-term review should assess whether regional functions can be hosted by universities, making the dedicated secretariats redundant.

This 410.3 millió Ft line covers EU co-financing obligations, international body membership fees, and scientific diaspora coordination. EU co-financing obligations are binding; international membership fees for ALLEA, EASAC, and the InterAcademy Partnership represent network goods that preserve Hungary's access to international scientific advisory bodies. The cross-border component supports Hungarian scientific communities outside Hungary. The combination of binding and semi-binding obligations makes this line defensible at current level. A nominal freeze and an annual review of the membership roster to identify any lapsed affiliations is the appropriate posture.

The 80.9 millió Ft grants to named scientific societies and foundations — including the Nagy Imre Alapítvány and the Bolyai Műhely Alapítvány — mix a legitimate coordination function (scientific societies) with specific foundation grants that lack transparent merit criteria. Discretionary grants to named organisations without competitive selection create a concentrated-benefit channel consistent with Buchanan and Tullock's public-choice analysis. A nominal freeze holds the envelope flat; periodic competitive review every three years for all named beneficiaries is the appropriate accountability instrument.

The Széchenyi Academy of Literature and Arts is a statutory learned society whose secretariat receives 37.2 millió Ft from general taxation. Literature and the arts have active private and philanthropic markets — publishers, theatres, galleries, and private patrons — that fund artistic work without state subsidy in comparable European economies. A statutory body honouring a curated membership list has no market-failure justification. The Academy may continue as a self-funded civil association; its members retain their honorary status.