In 1990 the privatisation debate in the ex-socialist countries advanced considerably. By now, the fundamental importance of private property for a market economy and the pitfalls of employee-ownership schemes are rarely disputed. Instead, the need for rapid privatisation and suitable methods of...

In the centrally planned economies of Eastern Europe, monetary policy played a subordinate role, there were no capital-market institutions and the banking system was single-tier. All this has to be changed in the transition to a market economy. The example of Hungary, which abolished the...

Among the former CMEA countries, some are moving faster and more radically toward the market system than others. Prof. Winiecki shows that the former will in future be in a better position to compete on world markets than those countries whose transition to the market system is incomplete or...

The reform programmes of most Eastern European countries have liberalized prices and taken on the task of macroeconomic stabilization, but the formation and implementation of structural policies has largely been neglected so far. What steps should the governments of Eastern Europe take to...

Although the main responsibility for carrying out economic reforms in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe lies with these countries themselves, the transformation of the Soviet-style economic system into a market economy must be made easier by support from abroad. In this the...

When German unification took place in 1990, the government was optimistic that the process of closing the economic gap between the two Germanies would be a brief one. However, economic unification has turned out to be more costly and much more complex than anticipated. But on the other hand it...

The integration of the former state-trading countries into international free trade may, on the one hand, sensibly complement the reforms now under way towards their becoming market economies; on the other hand, this move harbours the risk of perpetuating and indeed aggravating the economic...

In the countries of Eastern Europe the question as to the degree of currency convertibility is among the most important decisions to be taken when setting the framework for a free market economy. This article attempts to indicate the monetary and fiscal measures that will be required if the...

Privatizing government enterprises is one of the most difficult tasks in the transformation process taking place in the former socialist economies. What contribution do management buy-outs have to make in coping with that task?

The ongoing conversion of the economies of former socialist countries into market economies has so far suffered from the lack of a theory of system transformation (policy) which indicates the means of achieving the desired objectives and makes it possible to evaluate the transformation policies...