Analysis of selected segments of the Polish economy reveals several spheres of inequality. Some of them, such as inequalities in wages or household assets, are found in every type of economy. However, some inequalities are specific to a centrally planned economy, for example, those in the sphere...

The American public exhibits an exceptionally strong bias against public sector activity in the economy. Why this is so is investigated by applying the traditional literature on “American exceptionalism” and the comparative method. A defence of an active role for government in the economy is...

The article discusses the hidden contradictions and the theoretical problems in economic reform. It argues that a new operational model of the socialist economy will be established in China. Its fundamental characteristics are multi‐ownership structures with public ownership as its main body,...

Analyses the economics of socialism within the Marxian tradition. The ideas of Marx and Engels are included, as are those of the theorists of the Second International. The debate on market socialism associated with Oskar Lange also receives attention. The evolution of Mises′s and Hayek′s...

Proposes and outlines a plan for the passage from the old state economy in Poland to a new most perfect regime of social markets based on conditions of general stable equilibrium conditions, something quite different from the prevailing capitalist markets in the West. Meanwhile the Polish...

Political changes in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe have created both the preconditions as well as the need for the transition from the old to a new economic order. In the absence of any ready substitute, the institutional vacuum which arose plunged the majority of these countries...

In its economic transformation and microeconomic reform, China is using two‐tiered price systems. These combine an administrative and a free market element and can achieve Paretian optimality in supplies of products relative to resources allocated to enterprises. But complete allocative...

Attempts to discover an internal logic in the high‐speed events taking place in the former Soviet Union. In addressing the problems of the country′s disintegration, examines the issue in its socioeconomic, political and territorial‐administrative aspects. Analyses, for this purpose, the...

Discusses the communist system, based on an èlite Party and the privileged nomenklatura which executes its orders. An ubiquitous secret police, whose tentacles reach into the most private spheres of the citizens, kills any opposition in its bud. The people are constantly indoctrinated with...

Attempts to specify and to explicate some of the most important reasons for the failure of communism or state socialism. Analyses the general case of Eastern Europe, then applies the analysis to the specific case of Hungary. Second, deduces a model of market socialism from the theories of Fred...