Remaking Eastern Europe — On the Political Economy of Transition

Remaking Eastern Europe — On the Political Economy of Transition PDF Author: J.M. Van Brabant
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9400906897
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description
This compact volume is meant as a modest contribution to the ongoing debate on how to transform in particular the radically reforming Eastern European economies into more productive sociopolitical organizations. Although my main focus here is on the economics of reform and east-west assistance, I have tried to embed the multiple technical aspects of restructuring such a resource alloca tion into the context of remaking Eastern Europe. That the volume coincides with the seminal transformations of the communist countries of Eastern Europe is, of course, not fortuitous. But I shall have much less to say about the politi cal transitions from communism to parliamentary democracy, except the ways in which the latter may bolster or hinder the hoped-for economic mutations. In taking stock of where I stand on the issue of "radical reform" of planned economics in general and the CMEA in particular, both still moving targets, I have benefited greatly from participation in formal and informal conferences on economic reform. The product has also profited from many informal discus sions and exchanges of views among friends and colleagues, including those entrusted with and purely interested in efforts on the overall topic of the study launched from within the broad context of the United Nations, my at times reluctant employer.

Remaking Eastern Europe — On the Political Economy of Transition

Remaking Eastern Europe — On the Political Economy of Transition PDF Author: J.M. Van Brabant
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9400906897
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 236

Get Book Here

Book Description
This compact volume is meant as a modest contribution to the ongoing debate on how to transform in particular the radically reforming Eastern European economies into more productive sociopolitical organizations. Although my main focus here is on the economics of reform and east-west assistance, I have tried to embed the multiple technical aspects of restructuring such a resource alloca tion into the context of remaking Eastern Europe. That the volume coincides with the seminal transformations of the communist countries of Eastern Europe is, of course, not fortuitous. But I shall have much less to say about the politi cal transitions from communism to parliamentary democracy, except the ways in which the latter may bolster or hinder the hoped-for economic mutations. In taking stock of where I stand on the issue of "radical reform" of planned economics in general and the CMEA in particular, both still moving targets, I have benefited greatly from participation in formal and informal conferences on economic reform. The product has also profited from many informal discus sions and exchanges of views among friends and colleagues, including those entrusted with and purely interested in efforts on the overall topic of the study launched from within the broad context of the United Nations, my at times reluctant employer.

Globalization Under and After Socialism

Globalization Under and After Socialism PDF Author: Besnik Pula
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 1503605981
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Book Description
The post-communist states of Central and Eastern Europe have gone from being among the world's most closed, autarkic economies to being some of the most export-oriented and globally integrated. While previous accounts have attributed this shift to post-1989 market reform policies, Besnik Pula sees the root causes differently. Reaching deeper into the region's history and comparatively examining its long-run industrial development, he locates critical junctures that forced the hands of Central and Eastern European elites and made them look at options beyond the domestic economy and the socialist bloc. In the 1970s, Central and Eastern European socialist leaders intensified engagements with the capitalist West in order to expand access to markets, technology, and capital. This shift began to challenge the Stalinist developmental model in favor of exports and transnational integration. A new reliance on exports launched the integration of Eastern European industry into value chains that cut across the East-West political divide. After 1989, these chains proved to be critical gateways to foreign direct investment and circuits of global capitalism. This book enriches our understanding of a regional shift that began well before the fall of the wall, while also explaining the distinct international roles that Central and Eastern European states have assumed in the globalized twenty-first century.

Political Economy of Transition

Political Economy of Transition PDF Author: Jozef M. van Brabant
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134740158
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 574

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Book Description
This book addresses the policy questions surrounding the challenge of transforming eastern European economies from their planned, administrative past to vibrant market-based entities. Jozef van Brabant considers in turn, the wider set of challenges facing these economies - stabilization, privatization, liberalization, institution building, and developing and maintaining the sociopolitical consensus - before examining the evolving role of the state. Using concrete examples from the eastern European countries throughout, including the Czech Republic and Bulgaria, this work systematically examines, in a society-wide context, the initial conditions of transformation, the policy tasks ahead and the manner in which policies have been pursued.

The Political Economy of the Transition Process in Eastern Europe

The Political Economy of the Transition Process in Eastern Europe PDF Author: Laszlo Somogyi
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 9781782543947
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 400

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Book Description
'This well-produced book is a worthy contribution to the burgeoning literature on the transition. The editor provides a useful introduction.' - Ian Jeffries, The Economic Journal '. . . provides a useful and readable introduction to many of the most important issues in the "transition process".' - Hugo Radice, Economics of Transition Why has industrial output fallen in Eastern Europe and is further decline inevitable? What lessons can be learned from the stablilization programmes of the first two years of the post-communist era? Should the transitional economies privatize quickly and where do they find the missing institutions essential to the proper working of capitalism? In seeking answers to these and other questions, The Political Economy of the Transition Process in Eastern Europe analyses the difficulties faced by nations attempting to move from a planned to a market economy with special emphasis on issues of macroeconomic stabilization and institutional change.

Remaking the Economic Institutions of Socialism

Remaking the Economic Institutions of Socialism PDF Author: Victor Nee
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 9780804714945
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 436

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Book Description
To what extent can contemporary socialist economies be reformed by the introduction of markets? The question is usually debated in either a Chinese or an East European context; this collection of eleven essays is unique in taking the first steps toward a comparative analysis. Twenty years of experience with reforms in Hungary and a decade of experimentation with reforms in China proivde a critical mass of evidence for analyzing the problems endemic to cnetrally planned economies and the dilemmas faced in efforts to reform them. In reflecting on the Chinese and East European experiences, these essays trace the shift from a conception of reform as a mix of planning and makrets within the state sector to a socialist mixed economy with implications for the emergence of new social groups and autonomous social organizations. The essays exemplify a new perspective in the study of state socialism that changes the focus from ideologies to economic institutions, examining how the activities of subordinate groups place limits on the power of state elites. The authors include scholars who have shaped debates in Eastern Europe and whose work is now stimulating much discussion in China, as well as representatives of a younger generation of economists, sociologists, and political scientists writing on the basis of field research recently conducted in factories, cities, and villages in China and Eastern Europe. The contributors are: Wlodzimierz Brus, Walter D. Connor, Zhiren Lin, Victor Nee, Susan Shirk, David Stark, Ivan Szelenyi, and Martin King Whyte. An introductory essays surveys recent theories and research on state socialism and outlines a new institutional perspective for understanding the dilemmas of partial reforms, the political cycles of reform and retrenchment, and the role of subordinate groups in stimulating changes outside the state sector.

Remaking Europe

Remaking Europe PDF Author: Reinhilde Veugelers
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789078910442
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 252

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Book Description
How well are European firms responding to the new opportunities for growth, and in which global value chains are they developing these new activities? The policy discussion on the future of manufacturing requires an understanding of the changing role of manufacturing in Europe's growth agenda.

Privatizing Poland

Privatizing Poland PDF Author: Elizabeth Cullen Dunn
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 150170219X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
The transition from socialism in Eastern Europe is not an isolated event, but part of a larger shift in world capitalism: the transition from Fordism to flexible (or neoliberal) capitalism. Using a blend of ethnography and economic geography, Elizabeth C. Dunn shows how management technologies like niche marketing, accounting, audit, and standardization make up flexible capitalism's unique form of labor discipline. This new form of management constitutes some workers as self-auditing, self-regulating actors who are disembedded from a social context while defining others as too entwined in social relations and unable to self-manage.Privatizing Poland examines the effects privatization has on workers' self-concepts; how changes in "personhood" relate to economic and political transitions; and how globalization and foreign capital investment affect Eastern Europe's integration into the world economy. Dunn investigates these topics through a study of workers and changing management techniques at the Alima-Gerber factory in Rzeszów, Poland, formerly a state-owned enterprise, which was privatized by the Gerber Products Company of Fremont, Michigan.Alima-Gerber instituted rigid quality control, job evaluation, and training methods, and developed sophisticated distribution techniques. The core principle underlying these goals and strategies, the author finds, is the belief that in order to produce goods for a capitalist market, workers for a capitalist enterprise must also be produced. Working side-by-side with Alima-Gerber employees, Dunn saw firsthand how the new techniques attempted to change not only the organization of production, but also the workers' identities. Her seamless, engaging narrative shows how the employees resisted, redefined, and negotiated work processes for themselves.

The Former Soviet Union in Transition

The Former Soviet Union in Transition PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Former Soviet republics
Languages : en
Pages : 482

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Book Description


The Former Soviet Union in Transition

The Former Soviet Union in Transition PDF Author: John P. Hardt
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1315484285
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 1249

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Book Description
This edition of the Joint Economic Committee's 1993 reports on the economies of the ex-Soviet states tracks the Soviet and post-Soviet economic reform efforts, and looks at issues such as integration and developments.

Privatizing Eastern Europe

Privatizing Eastern Europe PDF Author: J.M. Van Brabant
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9401128340
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 343

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Book Description
This volume is meant to be a modest contribution to the ongoing debate about the transitions away from the administrative planning environment typical of the former communist regimes. The central subject matter is a fairly special one, namely the privatization of these economies together with the restoration and effective monitoring of property rights. These are paramount tasks of the ongoing transformations once progress toward pOlitical democracy is secured. Though I would not allot divestment of existing state-owned assets the kind of pivotal importance that some observers reserve for it, changing rules on the utilization of these assets is evidently at the core of what the transition toward market-based economic systems should be all about. Rather than examining the entire range of issues that surround the controvery on privatization, this volume is primarily concerned with the economics of taking the state out of the decision making about existing assets. Among the several aspects of this discussion three stand out. One is the establishment of clear property rights. This is fundamental to minimize trans action costs in an environment where decisions will increasingly be taken by independent economic agents acting on their own account. Second, I look only incidentally at the various angles of creating capital markets, particularly for existing assets, in these economies.