The Hungarian economy's road from a centralized, planned economy to a market economy displays a number of features that distinguich it from other post-socialist countries, despite the underlying similarities. Without aiming to provide a complete picture, I will pick out four features. One or...

We present a model of endogenous institutional change that rationalizes reforms that have taken place in the context of economic crisis and drastic political change. Most of these reforms have been initiated by powerholders, even though they have ended worse-off relative to the status quo. The...

Economic reform is difficult to carry out because it often undercuts teh status and economic advantage of the rank-and-file officials to whom authorities must turn to implement market-based changes. Drawing on new longitudinal data collected between 1991 and 1994 in a representative rural county...