Alcohol misuse has been a persistent challenge in Hungary, and the COVID 19 pandemic intensified the complexities of how people respond to collective stress. This study offers several new insights into the problem. First, drawing on a nationally representative survey of Hungarian adults, we move beyond broad patterns to pinpoint which demographic and social factors most influenced alcohol consumption during the pandemic. The analysis shows that increased drinking was more common among older adults and women, and among those experiencing financial hardship, while caregiving responsibilities (children under 14 in the household) were associated with a greater likelihood of increase rather than protection. Second, this research deepens understanding by applying Schwartz’s Theory of Basic Human Values in combination with a Heckman selection model. This approach distinguishes not only who drinks, but also how intrinsic values shape drinking behaviour under stress. Disaggregating the ten basic values reveals that Power (status/dominance) was a robust predictor of increased alcohol use across models; Achievement (competence/goal attainment) showed a modest protective tendency; and Hedonism, net of thrill seeking and status, was negatively associated with escalation. In contrast, social focus values (e.g., benevolence, universalism, tradition) did not consistently predict change once other values and covariates were considered....

In this paper, we employ a novel, network analysis based approach to gain new insights with respect to the changes in the structure of intra-European Union (EU) milk product trade between 2001 and 2012. Several network indices are computed to assess the relative importance of the countries from a number of perspectives. The results emphasise that the trade network has become denser, yet its overall centralisation slightly decreased during the period. While the impacts of the 2004 EU enlargement are clearly visible, the effects of the 2008 financial crisis are less evident. Integration of countries that joined the EU in 2004 or 2007 (the so-called New Member States, NMS) is only partial, and depends on the category of milk product considered. Although the number of NMS trade relations increased constantly between 2001 and 2012, the relative importance of most of them did not change. A significant exception is Poland, which became one of the most important exporting countries.