Format:
1 online resource (442 pages)
Edition:
2nd ed.
ISBN:
9781107026544
,
9781139782906
Content:
Aslund explains why communism collapsed, why Russia did not choose gradual reforms like China, wherein lies the relative success of postcommunist transformation in twenty-one countries, how oligarchs arose and declined vis-à-vis authoritarian leaders and the impacts of the global financial crisis and the European Union
Note:
Cover -- How Capitalism Was Built -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Tables and Figures -- Acknowledgments -- Abbreviations -- Introduction: A World Transformed -- OVERVIEW OF THE ARGUMENTS OF THIS BOOK -- Was It Possible to Build Well-Functioning Market Economies in a Few Years? -- Was It Not Inevitable that Capitalism Would Win? -- What Kind of Reforms Have Worked the Best? -- What Has Been the Main Obstacle to Reform? -- Why Was Speed So Important for the Transition? -- Why Didn't Russia Follow the Successful Chinese Model of Economic Reform? -- Why Was the Postcommunist Transition So Arduous? -- Has Output Really Fallen More than During the Great Depression? -- Why Have the Outcomes of the Postcommunist Transformation Varied So Greatly? -- Hadn't a Gradual Dissolution of the Soviet Union Been Better? -- Has Privatization Been Overdone? -- Are Oligarchs Pure Parasites? -- Has Western Aid Been Useful? -- Is the European Union the Best Solution? -- Have the Postcommunist Countries Achieved Sustainable Economic Growth? -- 1 Communism and Its Demise -- REAL SOCIALISM -- The Most Thoroughly Politicized System the World Has Seen -- Zealous Nationalization of the Means of Production -- Centralized Bureaucratic Allocation -- Hierarchical Economic Policy Making -- Prices Were Subordinate and Physical Output Was the Central Objective -- There Was No Real Money -- Mobilization of Resources -- The Building of a Strong Military Industry -- Wages and Private Consumption Were Held Back to the Benefit of Investment and Military Expenditures -- Investment in Human Capital Was the Most Positive Aspect of Socialism -- Each Communist Country Had a National Economic System Aiming at Autarky -- Shortages Were Ubiquitous -- High Growth Rates -- DECLINE AND FALL OF SOCIALISM -- Falling Growth Rates -- Falling Oil Prices -- Challenges from the Arms Race and IT
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A BIG BANG: VITAL IN DEREGULATION -- 5 From Hyperinflation to Financial Stability -- HIGH AND PERSISTENT INFLATION -- ESTABLISHING NATIONAL CURRENCIES -- RADICAL FISCAL ADJUSTMENT WAS KEY -- The Ministry of Finance Had to Be Reinforced -- Large Budget Deficits Were of No Benefit -- State Revenues Contracted Slowly -- Public Expenditures Were Eventually Severely Cut -- MONETARY POLICY: FROM LOOSE TO STRICT -- Entrepreneurial but Problematic Banking Systems -- Capital Flight -- EXCHANGE RATES: CURRENCY BOARD OR FREE FLOAT -- TAX POLICY: FROM SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC TO LIBERAL -- DRAMAS OF FINANCIAL STABILIZATION -- The Arrears Crisis -- THE RUSSIAN FINANCIAL CRASH OF 1998 -- INTERNATIONAL ASSISTANCE: INSUFFICIENT BUT CRUCIAL -- MAJOR LESSONS FROM POSTCOMMUNIST STABILIZATION -- 6 Privatization: The Establishment of Private Property Rights -- DIFFERING AIMS OF PRIVATIZATION -- The Political Goal: Depoliticization of Enterprises -- The Key Economic Goal: Building the Foundation of a Market Economy -- A Well-Functioning Market Economy -- Enterprises Needed Real Owners -- Companies Had to Be Made Independent -- Privatization Helped to Impose Hard Budget Constraints on Enterprises -- Enterprise Restructuring and Corporate Governance -- The Creation of a Real Capital Market -- Investment -- State Revenues -- What Justice? -- Restitution -- Property Distribution Through Privatization -- Share Distribution to Workers -- Property Sold at Market Price -- The Specter of Spontaneous Privatization -- Choices of Privatization -- SMALL-SCALE PRIVATIZATION: IF STARTED,SWIFTLY DONE -- LARGE-SCALE PRIVATIZATION: THE BIGGEST HEADACHE -- Initial Public Offerings -- Direct Sales or Investment Tenders -- Voucher Privatization -- Manager or Employee Privatization -- Bankruptcy and Liquidation -- Privatization of Land, Real Estate, and Housing
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Delegitimization of Communist Ideology -- Deconcentration of Power -- Political Breakdown -- Aggravated Political Illegitimacy -- Rising Soviet Fiscal Deficits -- Aggravated Shortages -- Open, High Inflation -- Excessive Foreign Debt -- End of the Brezhnev Doctrine -- National Divisions -- Sequencing of Democratization -- THE DEMISE OF COMMUNISM IN CENTRAL EUROPE -- Negotiated Transition: Poland and Hungary -- Popular Revolt: East Germany and Czechoslovakia -- Communist Coups: Bulgaria and Romania -- THE COLLAPSE OF THE SOVIET UNION -- Russia: Attempt at Democracy and Radical Economic Reform -- The Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania): Determined Democracy and Radical Reform -- Ukraine and Moldova: Communists Stayed in Power as Nationalists -- The War-Torn Caucasus -- Belarus and Central Asia: Continued Authoritarian Rule -- 2 Radical Reform versus Gradualism -- THE RADICAL REFORM PROGRAM: A BIG BANG -- The Importance of Speed and Comprehensiveness -- GRADUAL REFORM PROGRAMS -- The Chinese Model -- Western Arguments for Gradualism -- Przeworski's Political Economy -- Theoretical Political Economy -- Disorganization -- Institutions First -- Reform Communists Opposing a Normal Market Economy -- RENT SEEKING: THE SCOURGE OF TRANSITION -- CRITICISM OF RADICAL REFORM AFTER THE RUSSIAN FINANCIAL CRASH -- 3 Output: From Slump to Recovery and Boom -- SHARP DECLINE IN RECORDED OUTPUT AND VARIED RECOVERY -- EXAGGERATION OF THE SLUMP -- RADICAL REFORM: LEAST DECLINE AND EARLY RECOVERY -- Control of Inflation: A Necessary Precondition for Growth -- Liberalization: Most Important for Growth -- Privatization -- LATE REFORMERS: BOOM FROM 1999 UNTIL 2008 -- 4 Liberalization: The Creation of a Market Economy -- TWO STRATEGIES OF DEREGULATION -- LIBERALIZATION OF FOREIGN TRADE -- LABOR MARKET POLICY -- COMBAT OF MONOPOLY: GAS AND COAL
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New Enterprise Development: The Ultimate Success -- GREAT ACHICVEMENTS OF PRIVATIZATION -- Extraordinary Expansion of the Private Sector -- Democracy -- Formation of a Market Economy -- Hardening of Budget Constraints -- Competition -- Enterprise Restructuring -- Replacement of Enterprise Manager -- Defensive Restructuring Imposed by Hard Budget Constraints -- Privatization Needed for Offensive Restructuring -- The Evolution of Stock Markets -- Replacement of Enterprise Manager -- Defensive Restructuring Imposed by Hard Budget Constraints -- Privatization Needed for Offensive Restructuring -- The Evolution of Stock Markets -- Justice? -- THE ECONOMIC ROLE OF OLIGARCHS -- ARE OLIGARCHS ECONOMICALLY EFFICIENT? -- VITAL: SPEED AND LEGITIMACY OF PROPERTY RIGHTS -- 7 The Social System -- INCOMES: DIFFERENTIATION AND POVERTY -- LIFE AND HEALTH -- A Setback in Male Life Expectancy -- Falling Infant Mortality -- Confusing Demographic Developments -- EDUCATION ADJUSTING TO DEMAND -- SOCIAL TRANSFERS AND PENSION REFORM -- The Dilemmas of a Social Safety Net -- An Expensive but Inadequate Pension System -- THREE ALTERNATIVE SOCIAL MODELS -- 8 The Politics of Transition -- DEMOCRATIC BREAKTHROUGH AND CONSOLIDATION: CRITICAL FOR SUCCESSFULL TRANSFORMATION -- THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF POLICY REFORM -- AN UNDERREFORM TRAP -- THE POLITICS OF OLIGARCHY -- PUTIN'S ALTERNATIVE: CONSOLIDATION OF AUTHORITARIAN POWER -- RENEWED DEMOCRATIZATION: COLORED REVOLUTIONS -- IDEOLOGY, PARTIES, ELECTORAL RULES, AND CONSTITUTIONS -- HOW TO TAME THE LEVIATHAN: REFORM OF THE COMMUNIST STATE -- WHY HAS DEMOCRACY BUILDING DONE SO POORLY? -- 9 From Crime Toward Law -- AN EXPLOSION OF CRIME -- ATTEMPTS AT BUILDING A LEGAL SYSTEM -- CORRUPTION: THE BANE OF TRANSITION -- 10 The Importance of the European Union -- THE DREAM OF EUROPE -- WESTERN FAILURE TO ACT IN THE EAST
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THE PERSISTENT FAILURE OF THE CIS -- TRADE POLICY: A GULF BETWEEN THE EU AND THE CIS -- EUROPEAN NEIGHBORHOOD POLICY AND EASTERN PARTNERSHIP -- 11 The Global Financial Crisis, 2007-2012 -- SUCCESS BRED OVERHEATING -- EXCHANGE-RATE DILEMMAS -- CRISIS RESOLUTION -- BANKING CRISIS -- OUTCOME OF THE CRISIS RESOLUTION -- THE EU COUNTRIES SUFFERED MORE BUT REFORMED MORE -- 12 Conclusions: A World Transformed -- A BROADENING DIVIDE BETWEEN THE EU AND THE POST-SOVIET WORLD -- ACHIEVEMENTS AND REVELATIONS -- Bibliography -- Index
Additional Edition:
Print version Aslund, Anders How Capitalism Was Built New York : Cambridge University Press,c2012 ISBN 9781107026544
Language:
English
Keywords:
Electronic books
URL:
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