Jan Adam – författare

This discussion of the traditional system of management of the early 1950s and its subsequent reforms shows that the focus of these reforms is on finding a proper combination of planning and market mechanism. In Hungary and Poland most reformers would like to see the central authorities reserve for planning only what cannot be carried out satisfactorily by market-forces. In the USSR and the CSSR the fight is on to convince the political leaders to leave to the market the tasks which planning cannot perform well. In Hungary, and to a lesser extent in Poland, which are at the forefront of the reforms, the market plays an important role in co-ordinating economic activities. In the 1980s the market environment has been extended by slowly developing capital markets and by a strengthening of fiscal and monetary policies. Still more changes are needed to bring about a transformation in the behaviour of enterprises. The management system and economic policy are closely intertwined. This book shows that the success of the reforms depends on the extent to which economic policy is able to solve acute economic problems, primarily the restructuring of the economy.

This volume discusses the evolution of ideas about the desirable combination of planning and market in the former Soviet Union, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary since the 1960s, when major economic reforms started, up to 1991 when the countries have been engaged in a transformation of the economies into market economies. It also discusses the common and contrasting features of the debates which evolved in the countries under review.

He concludes that the lack of legitimacy of the communist regime, the disintegration of the Communist Party and its ideology were at least as important reasons as increasing lag behind the West in technology and the declining standard of living.

The contributors to this volume analyze the rise of the socialist welfare system, its advantages and disadvantages. The main focus of the volume is the analysis of the changes carried out and also those expected in the welfare system in the USSR, Poland and Hungary as a result of economic reforms.

The author discusses the traditional system of management of the economy as it existed in the early 1950s in the USSR and goes on to deal with the reforms of the 1960s and of the 1980s, country by country.

This book discusses the evolution of ideas about the desirable combination of planning and market in the former Soviet Union, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary since the 1960s, when major economic reforms started, up to 1991 when the countries have been engaged in a transformation of their economies into market economies.