The Transition to a Market Economy in Central and Eastern Europe

This two-volume set, emanating from a conference cosponsored by the World Bank in November 1990, deals with the issues and requirements for a successful economic transformation. It examines the lessons which can be drawn from economic development in a number of OECD countries and it discusses the sequencing of policy measures in the transition. The following sectoral issues are examined in the second volume: creating market institutions and competitive markets; restructuring the enterprise sector; labor market issues, social policies, and unemployment; structural conditions for macroeconomic stabilization; balance of payments, trade liberalization, and convertibility; and fiscal reform and the development of the financial sector.

Customer Reviews:

Reformed Red

By Harold Arthur Wilson - February 17, 2005

This text does a rather good job of defending the role of the former nomenclatura in the transition, moving as they did from power exercised via political influence to capitalist ownership. The author fairly depicts the disadvantages of the system for which he was a paid apologist on the payroll of the previous Hungarian regime, while serving as a tenured academic in the United States. However, there are weaknesses in the data presentation in the absence of which the book could have deserved 5 stars. A must read for scholars seeking to understand the transition era.