Zsófia Hajnal - Ideas

Written and Unwritten Values in the Preamble of the United Nations Charter – The Axioms of Human Coexistence and Progress

The Impossible Trinity of Security, Freedom and Privacy

Moral Economics – A Theoretical Basis for Building the Next Economic System

Measuring the Level of Technology in Moral Economics

Environmental Capacity Through the Moral Economic Lens – Dynamic Equilibria

“Celestial” snapshots: Moral economic revisitations of János Kornai's the socialist system

“Shared Joy is Double Joy”: Reciprocal Microfoundations of the Gini Coefficient

Split or steal or gift: Nash equilibria under altruistically extended payoffs

Navigating the moral economy: An integrative review

Reinterpreting The Moral Economy – Building on the Economic Possibilities of Selflessness

Written and Unwritten Values in the Preamble of the United Nations Charter – The Axioms of Human Coexistence and Progress

My goal is to revive the past regarding the motivations and philosophies which were present at the foundation of the United Nations, because I see the Preamble as the focal point of our knowledge about global values. What has led to its birth was more than the experience of two world wars. The values in the Preamble show an imprint of philosophical thoughts more than a thousand years old, but the text itself looks rather into the future. This fact resonates with a quote of Sumner Welles. The former American diplomat suggested that to create the post-war international order the world needed „men who have their eyes on the stars but their feet on the ground”.

The Impossible Trinity of Security, Freedom and Privacy

In Economics, the Impossible Trinity of free capital movement, an independent monetary policy and a stable foreign exchange rate is well known. There is a similar, though less explored trilemma in modern governance operating with more basic concepts: that of security, freedom and privacy. The aim of the study is to clarify this latter trilemma, as well as to offer a theoretical long-term solution. After expounding the general nature of trilemmas and the three main concepts, the impossible trinity of security, freedom and privacy is examined by taking three extreme scenarios. The scenarios are based on partially hypothetical situations in developed countries, where encryption debates or terrorist attacks took place recently. The study then turns to the solution of the situation. In order to understand the origin of the problem, it takes a step back to the dilemma of security and freedom. The fourth important concept the study operates with is transparency. The study suggests increasing transparency. A mathematical projection of the scenarios is introduced, and the suggested solution is derived in an equation as well.

Moral Economics – A Theoretical Basis for Building the Next Economic System

This paper explores the concept of moral economics in the author’s own, complex interpretation. Moral economics is a new approach to the structure and nature of the economic system, suggesting changes at several critical points. The paper is an interdisciplinary work between philosophy and economics, shifting from theory to practice, past to present, and balancing between the normative and the positive. The purpose is to change the economic understanding and the perceived economic logic through incorporating the moral factor into comprehensive models.

Measuring the Level of Technology in Moral Economics

This theory-based paper attempts classifying and combining methods of orthodox and heterodox economics regarding the measurement of technology levels. The importance of measuring the level of technology is illustrated by technology being a key factor in several neoclassical models. However, just as for the concept of utility, traditional economics treats the level of technology as an abstract scientific construct, without attempts for an absolute quantification. This paper argues that through a systematic classification and various methods, starting- and end points, milestones and even units can be determined. Through surveying the literature, the paper identifies the existing options of measurement, and their shortcomings. Technology is looked at as a “stock”, as opposed to the overrepresented “flow” nature. This gives space for the methods of constructing an absolute scale, and for the unique concept of the “steady-state technology”. Distinctions are made between demand-side and supply-side measurement, as well as between historical and geometrical methods of constructing scales. The methods are illustrated, though not fully implemented, due to limitations in scale and scope. Finally, the paper shows how heterodox economic branches, such as the newly emerging moral economic school, allow for the demand-side measurement to a greater extent, given the adjusted economic axioms.

Environmental Capacity Through the Moral Economic Lens – Dynamic Equilibria

This article explores and maps hierarchical, dynamic environmental-economic equilibria. Based on the moral economic premise of finite human needs, on output that increases with the population number in a supralinear manner, and on technology levels, moral economic equilibria are identified and quantified. These equilibria are compared to environmental capacities – as a function of technology levels. A needs-based, theoretical attempt is made to resolve the tensions and conversion issues in the economic-environmental nexus. A novel, visual, moral economic model of equilibria with the environment is established and justified. The model is expected to suggest indirect economic adjustments, in order to align with sustainability, which – indeed – is more of a notion to constantly be aligned with, than a handful of one-time economic targets to meet.

“Celestial” snapshots: Moral economic revisitations of János Kornai's the socialist system

Significant parts of the work of the great economist and economic visionary János Kornai function as a magnifying glass in economic theory, philosophy and history. Kornai examined economic systems and system-mixes with substantial details, for then being able to focus his audiences' attention on the most relevant and critical aspects of them. One of Kornai's masterpieces, The Socialist System – a book which recently passed its 30-year publishing anniversary – is such a political economy lens on communism. I am attempting a concise conversion of this magnifying glass, to apply a Galileian metaphor, into an economic telescope. In other words, I am adding another economic lens – that of moral economics – to the Kornaian viewpoints. In a short analysis going through various dimensions of The Socialist System, I am coupling Kornai's thoughts with moral economic ideas, both from the classical and the contemporary moral economy streams. The goal with this exercise of respectfully refreshing a toolkit and style of economic analysis is to then gaze into, and partially describe a potential multitude, or spectra of economic systems, which may manifest in econodiversity.

“Shared Joy is Double Joy”: Reciprocal Microfoundations of the Gini Coefficient

(This conference volume chapter is not open access though.)

One of the most iconic phrases on sharing is the Swedish proverb “Delad glädje är dubbel glädje; delad sorg är halverad sorg.”—“Shared joy is a double joy; shared sorrow is half a sorrow.” The focus in this chapter will be on the positive side of this saying, on the value-multiplying effect of sharing, which is a mechanism that connects reciprocity with efficiency. Despite the widely known and accepted general benefits that come from sharing as an ethical deed, attempts at operationalizing, quantifying, and testing–relative to its anticipated potential—are few and far between. This chapter thus contains three parts. First, the theory around sharing, reciprocity and value multiplication, with the review of the literature, as well as proposed systems of equations inclusive. Second, an empirical section, wherein the statements (through the remote connections drawn) will be tested on data. Third and finally, a discussion of the findings ensues, proposing behavioural foundations as reasons for the phenomenon of sharing as value multiplication, including an outlook in the form of further research opportunities.

Split or steal or gift: Nash equilibria under altruistically extended payoffs

Incentives for cooperation can come from different conceptual directions, beyond the “sticks and carrots” duality. This paper looks into potential, altruistic extensions of the payoff structure known from the prisoner's dilemma in game theory. The illustration of the payoff extensions happens through the derived game “split or steal”. The notion of altruism has been frequently and increasingly channeled into game theory previously, yet no attempts were found where it affects the design of the payoff matrix directly and explicitly. The aim of this paper is to show that the original payoffs of the game “split or steal”, and of the prisoner's dilemma more broadly, do not cover the full spectrum of human behavior in the strategic dimension of the situation, and that an altruistic adjustment, the “giving as a gift” option, gives space to corresponding incentives. The results are interpreted to be applicable to a number of real-life situations, complex, as well as competitive, both in the corporate and the governmental sphere.

Navigating the moral economy: An integrative review

The concept of the moral economy is yet to reach semantic maturity. This article provides a fresh classification of works in the moral economy literature: the early and late classics, conceptual-historical reviewers, types of case studies, political uses, as well as calls for change in economics. The reopening of the economic to the ethical is looked at briefly, through philosophical and economic classics, as an illustrative scaffolding for the current context of the moral economy concept. The article then turns to specific moral economic directions within the field of economics: incorporating the environmental understanding, applying virtue ethics to economic entities, and obtaining an ethical understanding of human needs. I examine the question of whether the moral economy can embody moral economics, i.e., the incorporation of ethical elements into economic theory. Through presenting forces of both divergence and convergence, I argue for keeping the semantic connection between the moral economy and moral economics open.

Reinterpreting The Moral Economy – Building on the Economic Possibilities of Selflessness

[PhD dissertation; before doctoral defense, as of May 2026]

This dissertation is a synthesizing and explorative endeavour, a contribution to discovering greater, yet more consistent applications of the moral economy concept than the usage that has evolved until about the end of the first quarter of the twenty-first century. My review of the earlier applications offers a comprehensive classification of the moral economy literature, accompanied by a critical approach that is expressed in line with and in the style of the moral economic tradition and logic. This is complemented by an analysis of the directions of moral economics as a field and practice. From the dynamics of the moral economy and moral economics concepts, I derive their potential, reinterpreted connection. The more consistent, yet also more ambitious relationship is supported by the context and constellations in and between the interviews conducted, viewing rational selflessness as the core element of the reinterpreted moral economy. On the macro level, a synthesis is established along the previously identified directions of moral economics. A system of visual models representing dynamic equilibria, built on moral economic premises, as well as a system of equations illustrating the consequences of selflessness in the economy, is included. In the implications, I draw on the findings from the interviews, as well as on the moral economic synthesis, to provide moral economic guidance, and to lay the foundations for future implementation.