Achieving Rapid Growth in the Transition Economies of Central Europe

Achieving Rapid Growth in the Transition Economies of Central Europe
Author: Jeffrey Sachs
Publisher: Center for Social & Economic Research
Total Pages: 76
Release: 1996
Genre: Economic development
ISBN:

Discusses the sources of rapid growth in the very fast growing economies in Asia, and the ways in which Central Europe could emulate keys aspects of their economic policies in order to raise their growth rates.

Achieving Rapid Growth in the Transition Economies of Central Europe

Achieving Rapid Growth in the Transition Economies of Central Europe
Author: Jeffrey D. Sachs
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2009
Genre:
ISBN:

This paper describes ways that the CEEs can speed their convergence with the EU by emulating the growth strategies of the very fast growing economies. In Section II, we introduce the VFGEs, and discuss some of the sources of their superior growth performance. In Section III, we demonstrate the role of key policy variables in the context of cross-country growth equations. In Section IV, we examine how the CEEs can emulate key aspects of the economic policies of the VFGEs, in order to raise their growth in the coming years.

The Czech Republic and Economic Transition in Eastern Europe

The Czech Republic and Economic Transition in Eastern Europe
Author: Jan Svejnar
Publisher: Academic Press
Total Pages: 463
Release: 2013-10-22
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1483289230

The Czech Republic and Economic Transition in Eastern Europe is the first in-depth, comparative analysis of the Czech Republic's economic transition after the fall of the Communist bloc. Edited by Jan Svejnar,a principal architect of the Czech economic transformation and Economic Advisor to President Vaclav Havel, the book poses important questions about the Republic and its partners in Central and Eastern Europe. The thirty-five essayists describe the country's macroeconomic performance; its development of capital markets; the structure and performance of its industries; its unemployment, household behavior, and income distribution; and the environmental and health issues it faces.In this in-depth, comparative analysis of the Czech Republic's economic transition, an international team of thirty-five economists examine the Republic and its partners in Central and Eastern Europe. Important questions and issues permeate the essays. For example, prior to 1939 the Czech Republic possessed the most advanced economy in the region; is it capable of reestablishing its dominance? Relative to its neighbors, the Republic ranks especially high on some transition-related performance indicators but low on others. What economic effects are related to the 1993 dissolution of the Czech and Slovak governments? And what can be learned by comparing the economic outcomes of two countries that shared legal and institutional frameworks? Data describe the country's macroeconomic performance; its development of capital markets; the structure and performance of its industries; its unemployment, household behavior, and income distribution; and the environmental and health issues facing it. Its most important contributions are its clarifications of the transition process.The authors included in Transforming Czechoslovakia combine the best available data and techniques of economic analysis to assess the replacement of the inefficient but internally consistent central planning system with a more efficient market system. These authors, among whom are central European economic analysts, senior U.S. economists, and Czechoslovakian professors and economic researchers, discuss the country's macroeconomic performance; its development of capital markets; the structure and performance of its industries; its unemployment, household behavior, and income distribution; and the environmental and health issues facing it. The essays vary between presentations of history and policy and technical examinations of data. Together they offer the most comprehensive and detailed assessment of the country's economic transformation in print.This book is important because its essayists compile results and reach conclusions that are broad and credible. The empirical data were gathered on the ground and have been subjected to advanced methodologies, including game theory, industrial organization, and Granger-Sims causality.

Recovery and Growth in Transition Economies 1990–97

Recovery and Growth in Transition Economies 1990–97
Author: International Monetary Fund
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 38
Release: 1998-09-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 145192836X

This paper analyzes the determinants of growth in 25 transition economies during 1990–97. The paper’s main finding is that macroeconomic stabilization, structural reform, and reduction of government expenditures are key to achieving sustainable growth. Although the initial effect of reforms on output may be negative, over time the best growth performances are in those countries with the greatest progress in implementing reforms. The analysis also confirms that although adverse initial conditions hurt growth, their effect is small compared to the other factors.

Economies in Transition

Economies in Transition
Author: Allan E. Young
Publisher: World Scientific
Total Pages: 446
Release: 2002
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9789810248734

To date, the record of economic transition has decidedly been mixed. The worldwide political climate is still in favor of economic reform and the process continues to have considerable momentum. On the other hand, this process now faces a number of formidable obstacles. There appears to be general agreement that in many countries the promise of a better standard of living which economic transition offers to the mass of the citizenry has failed to produce the rapid and dramatic results hoped for. There is an increasing conflict of interest between multinational firms and the national business community. Moreover, many transition economies have experienced a slowing of economic growth in real terms and social services have been severely cut.This book deals with the development of those forces that have played a major role in the successes and failures of economic transition. Its distinctive feature is that it does this from the perspective of economic, political and social analysis, taking into account both theoretical constructs and economic realities for those countries which have attempted the grand experiment with economic transition.

The Political Economy of Transition in Central and Eastern Europe

The Political Economy of Transition in Central and Eastern Europe
Author: Jens Bastian
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 207
Release: 2019-06-04
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0429797249

First published in 1998, this volume contributes to the debate after the fall of the Soviet Union on the transition of Eastern European, former Soviet countries to a market economy. The transition was an enterprise as daring in practice and historically unprecedented as it is an analytical laboratory subject to constant reflection. The first two chapters address foreign direct investment in Central and Eastern European countries. The rebuilding of social insurance systems is then addressed, with a focus on state pension schemes. The subsequent two chapters examine the political and demographic features of transition countries, highlighting media reform as a key aspect for the consolidation of a democratic, law-based, market economy and society. Focus then turns to Poland, the country which is considered to display the most progress in the political economy of transition. Finally, the controversial issue of the electoral successes of former Communist parties in Central and Eastern Europe is discussed.

Europe's Growth Champion

Europe's Growth Champion
Author: Marcin Piatkowski
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 397
Release: 2018
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0198789343

What makes countries rich? What makes countries poor? Europe's Growth Champion: Insights from the Economic Rise of Poland seeks to answer these questions, and many more, through a study of one of the biggest, and least heard about, economic success stories. Over the last twenty-five years Poland has transitioned from a perennially backward, poor, and peripheral country to unexpectedly join the ranks of the world's high income countries. Europe's Growth Champion is about the lessons learned from Poland's remarkable experience, the conditions that keep countries poor, and the challenges that countries need to face in order to grow. It defines a new growth model that Poland and its Eastern European peers need to adopt to grow and catch up with their Western counterparts. Poland's economic rise emphasizes the importance of the fundamental sources of growth- institutions, culture, ideas, and leaders- in economic development. It demonstrates that a shift from an extractive society, where the few rule for the benefit of the few, to an inclusive society, where many rule for the benefit of many, can be the key to economic success. *IEurope's Growth Champion asserts that a newly emerged inclusive society will support further convergence of Poland and the rest of Central and Eastern Europe with the West, and help to sustain the region's Golden Age. It also acknowledges the future challenges that Poland faces, and that moving to the core of the European economy will require further reforms and changes in Poland's developmental character.

World Development Report 1996

World Development Report 1996
Author:
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 268
Release: 1996
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780195211078

Almost one-third of the world's population has embarked on a transition from planned to market economies. Like economic reforms elsewhere, the long-term goal of this transition is to build a thriving market economy capable of delivering long-term growth in living standards. Now in its 19th annual edition, the World Development Report 1996 takes an in-depth look at these transition countries, focusing on the key lessons that have taken place thus far. The introduction to the Report poses a number of key questions that are addressed in later chapters, including questions relating to initial challenges and how contries have tackled them from very different starting points and political conditions. The Report also focuses on the additional challenges these transition countries face, with a final chapter that summarizes the main conclusion of the Report, creating a text that will no doubt become the definitive source for students stydying international economics and politics.

Economic Institutions and Democratic Reform

Economic Institutions and Democratic Reform
Author: Ole Nørgaard
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 280
Release: 2000-01-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9781782541493

"This book will be essential and challenging reading for political scientists and economists as well as policymakers in NGOs. such as aid agencies and the institutions of the EU."--BOOK JACKET.

Democratic Consolidation in Eastern Europe: Volume 2: International and Transnational Factors

Democratic Consolidation in Eastern Europe: Volume 2: International and Transnational Factors
Author: Jan Zielonka
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Total Pages: 572
Release: 2001-06-14
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0191529192

This is the second volume in a two-volume series of books on democratic consolidation in Eastern Europe. The first volume focused on the issue of institutional engineering. This second volume analyses the external parameters of democratic consolidation in thirteen Eastern European countries: how different international actors and various economic, cultural and security types of transnational pressures have shaped democratic politics in the region. The aim is to contrast a set of democracy theories with empirical evidence accumulated in Eastern Europe over the last ten years. The volume tries to avoid complex debates about definitions, methods and the uses and misuses of comparative research. Instead it seeks to establish what has really happened in the region, and which of the existing theories are helpful in explaining these developments. The volume is divided into two parts. The first part presents a conceptual and comparative frame of analysis, the second consists of detailed studies of individual countries undergoing democratic consolidation. Case study chapters deal with the following countries: Estonia and Latvia, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria and Macedonia, the states of former Yugoslavia, Belarus and Ukraine, and finally Russia. The concluding chapter identifies a set of variables responsible for the enormous impact of external factors on democratic consolidation in Eastern Europe. It conceptualises the interplay of internal and external factors impinging upon democracy, and shows the interplay of different positive and negative types of external pressures. It also evaluates the conscious Western effort to craft or engineer democracy in Eastern Europe.