Institutional barriers in the transition to market : examining performance and divergence in transition economies / Christopher A. Hartwell.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hartwell, Christopher, 1973-

Contributor:

John Lammey Stewart Memorial Library Fund.

Series:

Studies in economic transition

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Economic stabilization.

Post-communism--Economic aspects.

Post-communism.

Comparative economics.

Physical Description:

xvi, 250 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire : Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.

Summary:

Conventional wisdom has it that the transition from communism to capitalism faltered because "institutions were neglected." Popular thinkers and even Nobel laureates have proclaimed that the emphasis on stabilization policies (including the much-maligned "Washington Consensus") in Central/Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union led to an institutional vacuum and caused more hardship than necessary. This new look at the conventional wisdom finds exactly the opposite is true: surveying 20 years of data, Dr. Christopher Hartwell finds that institutions were generally not neglected in the transition process, and there was only stagnation in the places where they were neglected. Moreover, in a brand-new piece of analysis, this book finds that the leadership of transition countries made as much of a difference for a country's success or failure than the policies pursued. Finally, revisiting the "institutional neglect" debate, Dr. Hartwell asserts that only a few basic economic "institutions, including property rights, were important for a successful transition. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Introduction 1

The challenge: economics literature and the explanation of transition 3

2 Defining and Measuring Institutions 13

Institutional systems 17

Types of institutions within an institutional system 19

Applying the taxonomy in transition 21

Political institutions 22

Economic institutions 32

How to measure institutions? Indicators and proxies 42

3 Two Decades of Transition and Institutional Research: A Review 47

Transition economics and explaining 1989-91 50

New institutional economics and its application to transition economies 55

4 Institutions in Transition: Were They Really Neglected? 61

What was "neglected?" And how? 61

Examining the "neglect" argument 65

Institutions before 1989: the market under communism 67

Institutional change in transition 69

The correlation between macroeconomic stabilization and institutional change 77

An econometric analysis of institutional change and economic outcomes in transition 84

Conclusions 111

5 The Relative Importance of Institutions in Economic Outcomes in Transition 114

Policies versus institutions: which is which? 114

Policies versus institutions: which are more important? 118

Adding a third dimension: a new model of growth in transition 122

Instrumenting for personality 146

Conclusions 155

6 The Relative Importance of Different Institutions in Transition 157

Examining institutions in transition 157

Modeling institutional influence 160

Instrumental variables: combating endogeneity 183

Relative influence of institutions: some conclusions 201

7 Conclusion and Policy Recommendations 204

Agenda for further research 208.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the John Lammey Stewart Memorial Library Fund.

ISBN:

9781137323705

1137323701

OCLC:

842323007

Publisher Number:

99953829908