Reform and Transformation in Eastern Europe - Soviet-type Economics on the Threshold of Change (Hardcover)

Prior to the breakdown of communism in the Eastern Bloc, reform minded economists had experimented with the concepts of "market socialism" which presented no real challenge to the basics of the Soviet-type system. However, those same economists are now formulating radical proposals for deregulation, privatization and political democratization. This book tries to understand the intellectual background that changed these "reformers" into "transformers" and examines the problems of managing this dramatic transition. The book demonstrates the rediscovery of economic liberalism in Eastern Europe and provides a fresh look at economics in this area. Contributors include some of the most distinguished economists in Europe and leading policy makers from the post-socialist world including Leszek Balcerowicz, Raimund Dietz and D. Duff Milenkovitch. This book should be of interest to academics and undergraduates in the fields of economics, politics and East European studies.