Towards a Market Economy in Central and Eastern Europe

ISBN-13: 9783642765742 / Angielski / Miękka / 2011 / 169 str.

Herbert Giersch

Opis

In 1990, the countries of Central and Eastern Europe began or accelerated their transition to a market economy. This book addresses among others the following questions: (I) What are the fundamental causes of the collapse of the Soviet-type economic systems? (II) What major steps could be taken to make the transition process to a market economy irreversible and less painful? (III) What can be learned from West Germany's outstandingly successful postwar economic reforms? (IV) Is the issue of gradualism versus shock therapy still relevant? (V) If macroeconomic stability is a precondition, what is the role of privatization, deregulation and trade liberalization? (VI) What is the optimal sequence of steps in privatization, deregulation, liberalization and currency convertibility? (VII) How quickly may privatization be achieved? (VIII) Is the USSR really a special case and, if so, in what respects and for what fundamental reasons? (IX) How long in the transition period may the initial phase of disorder, chaos and decline last? (X) What can be learned from the experiences gathered so far in the major ex-communist countries?

Spis treści

Some General Lessons from West Germany’s Postwar Experiences.- West Germany’s Economic Reforms of 1948: The Lessons for Central and Eastern Europe Today.- How It All Began: Sources of the Recent Breakdown of the Soviet Economic System.- Main Obstacles to Rapid Economic Transformation of Eastern Europe: The Czechoslovak View.- The Polish Program of Stabilization.- Experiences and Prospects: The Case of Hungary.- Experiences and Prospects: The Case of the USSR.- Experiences and Prospects: The Case of the GDR.- German Economic Integration in a European Perspective.- List of Contributors.

O autorze

The papers contained in this volume deal with major aspects of the transition in the East, most notably with the causes of the collapse of the old system, the lessons to be drawn from West Germany's successful 1948 reforms and the respective roles and the appropriate timing and sequencing of privatization, macroeconomic stabilization, deregulation and external liberalization.