Transforming Post-Communist Political Economies

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 ContentsFront MatterIntroductionUnderstanding Economic ChangeUnderground Activity and Institutional Change: Productive, Protective, and Predatory Behavior in Transition Economies1 Property Rights in Transition Economies: A Commentary on What Economists Know2 Rethinking the Theory of Economic Policy: Some Implications of the New Institutionalism3 Missed Markets: Implications for Economic Behavior and Institutional Change4 Fuzzy Property: Rights, Power, and Identity in Transylvania's Decollectivization5 Rule Evasion in Transitional RussiaRestructing Production Without Market Infrastructure6 Learning in Networks: Enterprise Behavior in the Former Soviet Union and Contemporary Russia7 Formal Employment and Survival Strategies After Communism8 Observations on the Speed of Transition in Russia: Prices and Entry9 Social Policy and the Labor Market in Russia During TransitionSocial Costs, Social-Sector Reforms, and Politics in Post-Communism Transformations10 Reform of the Welfare Sector in the Post-Communist Countries: A Normative Approach11 Social Policy Challenges and Dilemmas in Ex-Socialist Systems12 Health Reform in Russia and Central Asia13 Vulnerable Populations in Central Europe14 Pension Reform in the Post-Communist Transition Economics15 From Safety Nets to Social Policy: Lessons for the Transition Economies for the Developing CountriesDemocracy, Social Change, and Economies in Transition16 The State in a Market Economy17 The State as an Ensemble of Economic Actors: Some Inferences from China's Trajectory of Change18 Possible Future Directions for Economies in TransitionResearch Priorities for Post-Communist EconomiesAppendix: Further ReadingIndex