Highway and Byways

Studies on Reform and Postcommunist Transition
Revised Auflage
ISBN: 978-0-262-11198-0
Verlag: Penguin Random House LLC

Buch, Englisch, 258 Seiten, Format (B × H): 160 mm x 237 mm, Gewicht: 535 g

Hungarian economist János Kornai first used the metaphor of a single path to
postsocialist transition in his earlier book, The Road to a Free Economy. The new metaphor that
frames this collection of recent studies reflects a broader perspective and understanding of the
complexities of transition: every highway and byway leads eventually to capitalism, Kornai observes,
but to what kind, how fast, and at what cost? Who wins and who loses?Kornai draws from his
experiences of Hungarian reform as well as from countries of the former Soviet Union to make several
major points. The first three studies describe what went wrong in countries that tried to mix
elements of planned and market economies. Efforts made by communist countries to introduce market
socialism (the "middle road") contained an inherent contradiction between the logic of socialism and
the logic of a free enterprise system, and were doomed to failure.In the studies that follow, Kornai
analyzes the ongoing dilemmas. The transition from communism to free enterprise is filled with
daunting hurdles; it requires no less than redefining ownership, changing values concerning the
distribution of wealth, transferring the control of political power, creating financial institutions
and enforcing financial discipline, and making deep economic sacrifice. Kornai closes with an
overall survey of postsocialist transition, describing the stages that countries tend to go through,
that will be particuarly useful to scholars of comparative economic systems.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Kornai, Janos

Kornai, János

Kornai, Jnos

Fachgebiete

• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Volkswirtschaftslehre Volkswirtschaftslehre Allgemein Makroökonomie
• Geowissenschaften Umweltwissenschaften Umweltpolitik, Umweltprotokoll
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Regierungspolitik Umwelt- und Gesundheitspolitik
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Volkswirtschaftslehre Volkswirtschaftslehre Allgemein Wirtschaftstheorie, Wirtschaftsphilosophie

Über Autor(innen)

Kornai, János
János Kornai is Permanent Fellow, Emeritus, at Collegium Budapest Institute for Advanced
Study, Allie S. Freed Professor of Economics Emeritus at Harvard University, and Distinguished
Research Professor at Central European University. He is the author of many other books, including
Contradictions and Dilemmas: Studies on the Socialist Economy and Society (1986)
and Highway and Byways: Studies on Reform and Postcommunist Transition (1994),
both published by The MIT Press.

János Kornai is Permanent Fellow, Emeritus, at Collegium Budapest Institute for Advanced Study, Allie S. Freed Professor of Economics Emeritus at Harvard University, and Distinguished Research Professor at Central European University. He is the author of many other books, including Contradictions and Dilemmas: Studies on the Socialist Economy and Society (1986) and Highway and Byways: Studies on Reform and Postcommunist Transition (1994), both published by The MIT Press.