Can the economics of Eastern Europe make the dramatic transition from centrally-planned to market-led economics? This book tries to understand the intellectual background behind this change and the problems of managing it.

Contains papers from a September 1993 workshop on the privatization of agriculture in Eastern Europe, exploring the situation in several countries. Discusses reform policies and actual processes of land reform, the emergence of new family farms, and the creation of new forms of cooperative and joint stock company, with papers on land reform in a Bulgarian village, redefining women's work in rural Poland, and decollectivization and total scarcity in High Albania. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

First published in 1992. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This thought-provoking book investigates the political and economic transformation that has taken place over the past three decades in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe (CESEE) since the fall of the Iron Curtain. Through an examination of both the successes and shortcomings of post communist reform and the challenges ahead for the region, it explores the topical issues of economic transition and integration, and highlights lessons to be learned.

This book examines the transformation of the state in Central and Eastern Europe since the end of communism and adoption of market oriented reform in the early 1990s, exploring the impact of globalization and economic liberalization on the region’s states, societies and political economy. It compares the different policies and national strategies adopted by key Central and Eastern European states, including the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia, showing how initial internally oriented strategies of market reform, privileging domestic sources of investment, had by the late 1990s given way to externally oriented strategies emphasising the promotion of competitiveness by attracting foreign investment. It explores the reasons behind this convergence, considering the influence of internal and external forces, and the roles of interests, institutions and ideas. It argues that internationalization of the state is forged in the processes through which domestic groups linked to transnational capital attain domestic influence necessary to shape state policy and strategy. These groups — the comprador service sector in particular — constitute and organize political, social and institutional support of the competition state in the region. Overall, this book not only provides a detailed account of the political economy of post-communist transformation in Central and Eastern Europe, but also the processes by which states adapt to the forces of globalization.

The global financial crisis has provided an important opportunity to revisit debates about post-socialist transition and the relative success of different reform paths. Post-communist Central and Eastern Europe (CEECs) in particular show resilience in the wake of the international crisis with a diverse range of economic transformations. Transformation and Crisis in Central and Eastern Europe offers an in depth analysis of a diverse range of countries, including Poland, Hungary, Russia, Ukraine, Czech Republic and Slovakia. This volume assesses each country’s institutional transformations, geopolitical policies, and local adaptations that have led them down divergent post-communist paths. Chapters take the reader systematically through the evolution of former communist national economic systems, before ending with lessons and conclusions for the future. Subsequent chapters demonstrate that economic performance crucially depends on achieving a sustainable balance between sound institutional design and policies on one hand, and localization on the other. This new volume from a prestigious group of academics offers a fascinating and timely study which will be of interest to all scholars and policy makers with an interest in European Economics, Russian and East European Studies, Transition Economies, Political Economy and the post-2008 world more generally.

The Czech Republic and Economic Transition in Eastern Europe is the first in-depth, comparative analysis of the Czech Republic's economic transition after the fall of the Communist bloc. Edited by Jan Svejnar,a principal architect of the Czech economic transformation and Economic Advisor to President Vaclav Havel, the book poses important questions about the Republic and its partners in Central and Eastern Europe. The thirty-five essayists describe the country's macroeconomic performance; its development of capital markets; the structure and performance of its industries; its unemployment, household behavior, and income distribution; and the environmental and health issues it faces.In this in-depth, comparative analysis of the Czech Republic's economic transition, an international team of thirty-five economists examine the Republic and its partners in Central and Eastern Europe. Important questions and issues permeate the essays. For example, prior to 1939 the Czech Republic possessed the most advanced economy in the region; is it capable of reestablishing its dominance? Relative to its neighbors, the Republic ranks especially high on some transition-related performance indicators but low on others. What economic effects are related to the 1993 dissolution of the Czech and Slovak governments? And what can be learned by comparing the economic outcomes of two countries that shared legal and institutional frameworks? Data describe the country's macroeconomic performance; its development of capital markets; the structure and performance of its industries; its unemployment, household behavior, and income distribution; and the environmental and health issues facing it. Its most important contributions are its clarifications of the transition process.The authors included in Transforming Czechoslovakia combine the best available data and techniques of economic analysis to assess the replacement of the inefficient but internally consistent central planning system with a more efficient market system. These authors, among whom are central European economic analysts, senior U.S. economists, and Czechoslovakian professors and economic researchers, discuss the country's macroeconomic performance; its development of capital markets; the structure and performance of its industries; its unemployment, household behavior, and income distribution; and the environmental and health issues facing it. The essays vary between presentations of history and policy and technical examinations of data. Together they offer the most comprehensive and detailed assessment of the country's economic transformation in print.This book is important because its essayists compile results and reach conclusions that are broad and credible. The empirical data were gathered on the ground and have been subjected to advanced methodologies, including game theory, industrial organization, and Granger-Sims causality.