MIRIAM BEBLO Lecturer in Social Policy, Freie Universität, BerlinMARIE BOHATA Senior Economic Researcher, Charles University PragueRONALD A. BRAND Professor of Law and Director of the Center for International Legal Education, University of Pittsburgh School of LawREINHARD HEINISCH Professor of Politics, University of PittsburghJENS HÖLSCHER DAAD Senior Fellow and Co-ordinator of Economic Research, Institute for German Studies, University of BirminghamEMIL J. KIRCHNER Professor in Government and Director of the Centre for European Studies, University of Essex. KAI A. KONRAD Professor of Public Economics, Free University of BerlinCATHRYN ROSS Research Assistant, Regulatory Policy Research Centre, Hertford College, University of OxfordELINOR SCARBROUGH Lecturer in Government, and Co-Director of the Essex Summer School in Data Analysis and Collection, University of EssexONDREJ SCHNEIDER Adviser to the Minister of Industry and Trade, Czech Republic; Consultant to IMF and World BankMAIRON TEGZE Assistant Professor of Economics, Charles University, PragueFRANTISEK TURNOVEC Director of the Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education, Charles University, PragueMARIE VAVREJNOVA Senior Researcher, Economic Institute, Academy of Sciences of the Czech RepublicHANS WEISFELD Lecturer in Economics, Free University of Berlin

• List of Maps and Figures Biographical Notes Preface Introduction; I.Collier and H.Tomann PART I: CONCEPTUAL ISSUES OF THE MARKET SOCIETY The Market Economy and its Ethical Infrastructure; M.Bohata Comment; E. Scarbrough Functional Change in Property Rights in the Welfare State - Lessons from the Federal Republic of Germany; H.Roggemann Comment; R.A. Brand The State of Corporatism in a Central Europe in Transition; R.Heinisch PART II: SOCIAL POLICY IN TRANSITION The Role of Social Policy During the Transformation in Central Europe; O.Scholz and H.Tomann Comment; E.Kirchner Political Economy of Social Welfare Reform: the Parliamentary Election of 1996 in the Czech Republic; F.Turnovec Comment; K.A.Konrad The Enlargement of the European Union and the Harmonisation of Public Pension Systems; O. Schneider Comment; C.Ross PART III: DYNAMICS OF INCOME INEQUALITY Social Cohesion and Transition Dynamics; J.Hölscher Income Distribution in Transition Economies and its Dynamics; M.Tegze Comment; H.Weisfeld The Share and Position of Minimum Income Categories of Households in the Czech Republic; M.Vavrejnova Comment; M.Beblo Index