This ground-breaking new volume focuses on the interaction between political, social, and economic change in Central and Eastern Europe and the New Independent States. It includes a wide selection of analytic papers, thought-provoking essays by leading scholars in diverse fields, and an agenda for future research. It integrates work on the micro and macro levels of the economy and provides a broad overview of the transition process.


This volume broadens the current intellectual and policy debate concerning the historic transition now taking place from a narrow concern with purely economic factors to the dynamics of political and social change. It questions the assumption that the post-communist economies are all following the same path and that they will inevitably develop into replicas of economies in the advanced industrial West. It challenges accepted thinking and promotes the utilization of new methods and perspectives.

Table of Contents


Front Matter
Introduction
Understanding Economic Change
Underground Activity and Institutional Change: Productive, Protective, and Predatory Behavior in Transition Economies
1 Property Rights in Transition Economies: A Commentary on What Economists Know
2 Rethinking the Theory of Economic Policy: Some Implications of the New Institutionalism
3 Missed Markets: Implications for Economic Behavior and Institutional Change
4 Fuzzy Property: Rights, Power, and Identity in Transylvania's Decollectivization
5 Rule Evasion in Transitional Russia
Restructing Production Without Market Infrastructure
6 Learning in Networks: Enterprise Behavior in the Former Soviet Union and Contemporary Russia
7 Formal Employment and Survival Strategies After Communism
8 Observations on the Speed of Transition in Russia: Prices and Entry
9 Social Policy and the Labor Market in Russia During Transition
Social Costs, Social-Sector Reforms, and Politics in Post-Communism Transformations
10 Reform of the Welfare Sector in the Post-Communist Countries: A Normative Approach
11 Social Policy Challenges and Dilemmas in Ex-Socialist Systems
12 Health Reform in Russia and Central Asia
13 Vulnerable Populations in Central Europe
14 Pension Reform in the Post-Communist Transition Economics
15 From Safety Nets to Social Policy: Lessons for the Transition Economies for the Developing Countries
Democracy, Social Change, and Economies in Transition
16 The State in a Market Economy
17 The State as an Ensemble of Economic Actors: Some Inferences from China's Trajectory of Change
18 Possible Future Directions for Economies in Transition
Research Priorities for Post-Communist Economies
Appendix: Further Reading
Index