This study of economic reforms throughout Eastern Europe covers the history of attempts at decentralization. The book: * Describes the centralized model and compares its requirements with the realities of socialist countries * Discusses the economic policies of the post-Stalinist period *...

"This volume examines failed attempts at modernizing the communist economy by means of optimal planning. It traces the rise and fall of the concept in Eastern Europe and China, explaining why the mission of optimization was doomed to fail and why it may nevertheless be relaunched today."