Institutional Barriers to Economic Development - Poland's Incomplete Transition (Hardcover)

Poland's transition from socialism to capitalism has largely been praised as a success story. In reality, however, according to this study, Poland's case is an incomplete transition. The authors argue that these symptoms arise from a political economy failure to build the required insititutions, once the initial enthusiasm waned, and the positive effects of those initial measures - which began the process in the early 1990's - petered out. These essays suggest respective economic remedies, and demonstrate why some of them are politically difficult in the present, still volatile, political climate. Moreover, they tentatively look at the sources of resistance to further systematic change which go beyond traditional reform fatique. Looking at the processes involved in economic transition, covering key issues including financial markets, labour market, competition and intervention, social security, property rights and attitudes towards the changing political economy, this book provides a wide-ranging study of economic development. It should be of great use to economists, those involved in Russian and East European studies, and political scientists.