Economics and Politics of Transition

418 Pages·1992·40.466 MB·English

by  Christopher T. Saunders (eds.)

East-West European Economic Interaction
The Vienna Institute for Comparative Economic Studies organises a series of intemational
workshops concemed with problems of East-West European economic interaction, guided
by an Intemational Steering Committee.
The present volume is based on Workshop Session XIII held in TObingen, FRG, 1990
Workshop Papers so far published:
Vols 1-4 A list of these titles can be obtained and copies can be ordered from The
Vienna InstiMe for Comparative Economic Studies, P.O. Box 87, A-11 03 Vienna,
Austria. The remaining volumes are available from Macmillan. Series Editor:
Philipp Rieger, Chairman of the Workshop
Vol. 5 East and West in the Energy Squeeze (1980)
Vol. 6 East-West-South: Economic Interactions between Three Worlds (1981)
Vol. 7 Regional Integration in East and West (1983)
Vol. 8 East-West Trade and Finance in the World Economy (1985)
Vol. 9 Industrial Policies and Structural Change (1986)
Vol. 10 Macroeconomic Management and the Enterprise in East and West (1988)
Vol. 11 East-West Economic Relations in the 1990s (1989)
Vol. 12 The Impact of Govemments on East-West Economic Relations (1990)
Vol. 13 Economics and Politics of Transition (1992)
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ECONOMICS AND POLITICS OF
TRANSITION
Edited by
Christopher T. Saunders
Visiting Fellow, Science Policy Research Unit
University of Sussex, UK
M in association with
Palgrave Macmillan
© Wiener Institut fOr Internationale Wirtschaftsvergleiche (WIIW)
(The Vienna Institute for Comparative Economic Studies), 1992
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1 st edition 1992 978-0-333-57542-0
Research Director: Prof. Dr. Kazimierz Laski
Administrative Director: Dr. Ingrid Gazzari
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First published 1992 by
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and London
Companies and representatives
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ISBN 978-1-349-12925-6 ISBN 978-1-349-12923-2 (eBook)
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Sponsored by Volkswagenstiftung
PREFACE
The present volume is based on the proceedings of the Thirteenth
Workshop on East-West European Economic Interaction. It was held from
10 to 14 October 1990 at TObingen, Germany, hosted by the Department of
Economics of the Eberhard-Karls-University and generously funded by the
Volkswagen-Stiftung, WolfsbOttel, Germany.
Its topic "Economics and Politics of Transition" as well as its timing
seemed perfect. It was held only a week after the unification of Germany and
highlighted a year's revolutionary changes sweeping Central and Eastern
Europe.
The introductory chapters of this volume deal with some basic theoretical
problems of transition from centrally planned and administered economies to
market economies and their integration into the world economy.
For an analysis of the transformation process it seemed useful to divide it
into its constituent elements embracing
a) systemic changes involving various ways of exerting property rights and
creating decentral, mainly private economic transactors;
b) liberalisation and deregulation (of prices including the convertibility of
currencies, and of foreign trade)
c) macroeconomic fiscal and monetary policies to control inflation and the
implementation of appropriate structural and social policies.
Although no historic precedents for transformation of planned into market
economies exist, the post-war experience of some West European countries
during their transition from dirigist war economies into deregulated market
economies were thought to provide useful lessons as well as the rise of the
Newly Industrial Countries (NIC's) in East Asia under essentially different cir
cumstances.
Among the decisive differences was the retention of the largely private
ownership structures in Western Europe during the war when economic
control mechanisms were only superimposed and could be dismantled without
major adjustment complications.
The experiences of the West German currency reform of 1948, the experi
ment with indicative planning in post-war France or Austria's well functioning
voluntary system of "Social Partnership" could be of relevance to solving some
of the problems confronting the new democratic Governments in Central and
Eastern Europe.
The current controversy concerning the choice of proper transition strate
gies and the timing and sequencing of various reform measures also enlivened
the workshop's discussions. The advocates of a pragmatic gradualist
approach voiced their doubts about the adequacy of the "shock therapies"
(especially in view of their high social costs) propagated mainly by US eco
nomists and supported by the IMF and World Bank.
A wide consensus existed about the necessity to support and sustain the
Central and East European reform experiments with massive Western eco
nomic aid and technical know-how in "Marshall-Plan" dimensions.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Vienna Institute for Comparative Economic Studies, which organises
the Workshop sessions under the guidance of its International Steering Com
mittee, is greatly indebted to the Volkswagen-Stiftung for its financial sponsor
ship.
Special thanks are due to Professor Dr. Norbert Kloten, President of the
Landeszentralbank Baden-Wurttemberg, Stuttgart, and former illustrious
Faculty member of the University of Tubingen, for his intellectual and organisa
tional support.
For efficiently arranging the Workshop Eva Strobl from the Vienna Insti
tute was responsible, ably assisted by Gunther Luz and Gunther-Helmut
Schacht from the Landeszentralbank.
The arduous task of editing the papers and the ensuing discussions was
again performed by Professor C. T. Saunders, assisted by Fred Prager
and Eva Strobl. They were typeset and prepared for printing by Renate
Szumilowski. We are grateful, as always, for valuable cooperation to Mr. T. M.
Farmiloe of the Macmillan Press Ltd.
Philipp Rieger
Chairman of the Workshop
vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Christopher Saunders
Editor's introduction 1:
PART I - CONCEPTS, THEORIES AND AIMS
Chapter 1: Norbert Kloten
Transition of economic systems: basic aspects 23
Chapter 2: Ruben Yevstigneev
Transition from command to market economies 47
Chapter 3: Kazimierz Laski
Concepts of transition in socialist economies 63
Chapter 4: Helmut Leipold
The neoliberal concept of economic order 73
Comments on Part I: Rikard Lang (on Kloten & Yevstigneev) 85
Hans-JOrgen Wagener (on Laski) 90
Kazimierz Laski (on Leipold) 94
PART" - TRANSFORMATION POLICIES IN EASTERN EUROPE
Chapter 5: Eduard Hochreiter/Peter Backe
Policies for stabilisation and adjustment
in the transition period 97
Chapter 6: Philipp Rieger
Monetary and financial policies in the transition period 111
Chapter 7: Jan Stankovsky
Foreign economic relations in Eastern Europe's transition 125
vii
Comments on Partl!: Gerhard Fink (on privatisation) 143
Valentin Kudrov (on Hochreiter/Backe,
Rieger & Stankovsky) 146
Neven Mates (on Hochreiter and Rieger) 147
Dominick Salvatore (on Stankovsky) 151
PART III - AGRICULTURE IN THE TRANSITION PROCESS
Chapter 8: Carlo Boffito
Problems in East European agriculture 157
Chapter 9: Ivan Benet
Agriculture in the Hungarian reform 167
Chapter 10: Karl-Eugen Wadekin
The restructuring of East European agriculture 175
PART IV - COUNTRY STUDIES OF TRANSITIONS - WEST
Chapter 11: Josef Molsberger
West Germany: the monetary reform of 1948 and the rebirth
of the market economy 185
Chapter 12: Hannes Androsch
Austria: solutions in a unique political environment 203
Chapter 13: Bernard Cazes
France: two big transitions 213
Comment on Part IV: GOnther Cha/oupek (on Molsberger,
Androsch and Cazes) 218
viii
PART V - COUNTRY STUDIES OF TRANSITIONS - EAST
Chapter 14: Karel Kouba
Czechoslovakia: strategies for systemic change 221
Chapter 15: Wolfgang Heinrichs
East Germany: transformation to a social market:
opportunities and risks 231
Chapter 16: Jens Kammerath
East Germany: a special case or a precedent? 245
Chapter 17: Lajos Bokros
Hungary: issues for privatisation 253
Chapter 18: Marton Tardos
Hungary: transformation in progress 273
Chapter 19: Urszula Plowiec
Poland: the adjustment programme 295
Chapter 20: Bartlomiej Kaminski
Poland: underpinning the transition: the shadow of
the round table agreements 307
Chapter 21: Roman Dolczewski
Poland: building a joint venture from a state
enterprise 333
Chapter 22: Valentin Kudrov
Soviet Union: programmes of economic reform 345
Chapter 23: Dragomir Vojnic
Yugoslavia: experience of systemic change 349
ix
Comments on Part V: Neven Mates (on Heinrichs) 368
Karl-Ernst Schenk (on Bokros and
Dolczewskl) 369
Jilf Kosta (on Kaminski) 371
)VeksanderLukaszewicz
(on Eastern Europe generally) 374
Aleksandar M. Vacic
(on East European experience) 377
PART VI - CONCLUDING REFLECTIONS
Chapter 24: Hans-Jiirgen Wagener
Economics and politics of transition 389
Chapter 25: Aleksandar M. Vaci(;
Specific features of transition from plan to market 399
LIST OF PARTICIPANTS 409
INDEX 413
x