Creating Capitalism: Using Growth Models to Assess Transition

Five generic reforms, price liberalization, property privatization, macroeconomic stabilization, microeconomic restructuring and trade liberalization, are integrated into both exogenous and endogenous growth models. This integration allows one to assess the implications of each reform for a representative consumer. If one assumes that in assessing a prospective reform each voter, given his unique characteristics and circumstances, acts as if he were the representative consumer, then this framework allows one to evaluate quantitatively the prospects of each reform for each distinct group. This model can be used to forecast how different voters, young-old, flexible-rigid, working-retired, taxpayer-transfer recipient, will respond to each proposal. This can in turn be used to determine the likelihood of success of a democratic polity in transition to capitalism.