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The patterns of economic development have varied between Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. All four nations have had to go through a recession associated with the conversion to capitalism before achieving subsequent economic growth. The growth in Poland's gross domestic product has been the most substantial. All four nation's have had to face declining industrial output and have wrestled with attempts to keep inflation and unemployment down. Foreign trade with the West and with each other has also influenced their rate of recovery., Forces shaping economic activity At the time of writing (late autumn 1993) it seems pretty certain that the long awaited recovery from 'transformational recession'[1] has finally arrived, at least in [...]

The article focuses on the economic development in the Europe and the U.S. and tackles the reform on their economic system.

This article looks at the prospects of two emerging economic powers, Russia and China, to become major players in the world economy. The main economic thesis formulated by the author is that economies not only grow, but also undergo structural change. And to successfully accomplish second structural change – from the industry-driven to human capital-intensive services driven economy – it is not enough to increase economic freedom. Civic and even political freedom must emerge or increase to stand a chance to pass the ‘Great Wall’. Russia and China are, then, analyzed from the foregoing perspective. Additionally, many structural and economic policy distortions are pointed at in the case of both countries. Moreover, in the case of Russia, it is stressed that it is not so much an emerging power, but the failed superpower of the past. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article deals with a specific legacy, concerning the labour force, with which transition countries have been burdened while instituting systemic change. The majority of authors have concentrated on what this author calls transition cyclical unemployment, resulting from the permanent excess demand and the lack of penalty for financial failure under the communist economic system. However, another, more pernicious legacy has been the distorted skill structure in communist economies. This article explains the sources of a bias in favour of low-skilled workers in the past. In consequence, when transition began, these economies were faced with heavy excess supply of low-skilled and high demand for better skilled workers. The latter stemmed from normal requirements of economic development, that is, the need for continuous output quality improvement, technological upgrading and change in the portfolio of goods and services produced. Among the consequences of the sharp downward change in demand for low-skilled labour have been growing wage differentials and the emergence of a large pool of unemployed (and often unemployable) low-skilled labour, which may be called transition structural unemployment. In macroeconomic terms an unusually high unemployment rate was observed for about a decade following the beginning of transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article looks from an institutional perspective at the process of catching up by poorer countries with the level of development already achieved by the richer ones. The author stresses that resources are of secondary importance, relative to the institutional framework conducive to or discouraging economic development. It is from such a perspective that the present writer approaches post-communist transition, noting the existence of leaders and laggards in the process. Differences in outcomes are ascribed, unsurprisingly, to differences in institution-building (both general and specific rules) and, even more importantly, to differences in what the author calls "civilisational fundamentals" of liberty, law and order, and trust. The main thesis is that the fundamentals in question are the heritage of pre-communist past. Therefore, it is the pre-communist heritage, the presence or absence of the fundamentals in question, which largely determine the transition's success or failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deals with the characteristics of Soviet-type economies, particularly on the similarity of their intra-industry structures regardless of the varying sizes of these economies. Twofold underspecialization and its hypothesized effects; Assessment of the Soviet-type industrialization pattern.

Comments on the egalitarian preferences displayed by blue-collar workers in Eastern Europe. Reasons why blue-collars feel threatened by rewards for efficiency following economic liberalization; Threat posed by workers' egalitarianism on economic development in Eastern Europe; Policy implications on economic affairs in the region.