On the Backwardness in Macroeconomic Performance of European Socialist Economies

This paper aims to compare the macroeconomic performance of three European socialist economies (Hungary, Poland, Yugoslavia) with developing and developed countries during the eighties. Using panel data for 87 countries, we measure macroeconomic performance with two frontier efficiency techniques: the stochastic frontier approach, and the time-varying WITHIN model proposed by Cornwell, Schmidt and Sickles (1990). We conclude in favor of the underperformance of socialist countries in relation to developed countries but also to developing countries, which may be explained by the features of the socialist economic system.