From Surrogate Religion to Surrogate Democracy: Paganized Christianity and Right-wing Populism in Hungary

Zoltán Ádám is Managing Director of Kopint-Tárki Institute for Economic Research. He defended his PhD in economics at Debrecen University, and holds an MPhil in Political Science from CEU and a Master in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School. His PhD is about the political economic analysis of the Hungarian post-communist transition, and argues that exclusive political and economic institutions, triggering unsustainable fiscal and social welfare policies, made Hungary exceptionally exposed to a populist take over by the late 2000s. At Kopint-Tárki he focuses on macroeconomic problems as well as on fiscal and monetary policies. Previously he worked as head of research at Takarékbank (2008-12) and as economic policy advisor at the Ministry of Economy and Transport (2006-08). He was editor of Külgazdaság, Kopint’s bi-monthly economic journal in 2006-09 and sat on the editorial board of Beszélő, a major Hungarian liberal political journal (established by the Hungarian democratic opposition as a samizdat in 1981) in 2005-15.