From Central Planning to the Market

The Transformation of the Czech Economy 1989–2004
Author: 
ISBN: 
978-963-386-000-7
cloth
$121.00 / €111.00 / £95.00
Kindle edition is available through Amazon
Publication date: 
2018
522 pages

This book describes the process of the Czech economic transformation from the beginning of the 1990s to the country’s entry into the European Union in 2004. This transformation is divided into four periods: an initial recession caused by the transformation; economic growth in the mid-1990s; a recession connected to the currency crisis of 1997; and recovery and growth from 1999 until 2004, when the analysis ends. The examination covers the main aspects of the transformation—an overall view of the process, political transition, economic policy, economic results (GDP development, infl ation, unemployment), changes in outside indicators (balance of payments), privatization, transformation of the fi nancial sector, and changes in the business sector and institutional development.

The book also compares Czech development in this transformative era to those of Poland and Hungary. As in Hungary and Poland, the Czech Republic underwent an exceptional qualitative shift from a system centrally planned to one that was market-based. The book concludes that despite mistakes and hardships, the overall transformation process in Central Europe has been successful.

CONTENTS

PREFACE

1 SITUATION IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA AT THE END OF THE 1980s

1.1 Economic outcomes of the socialist regime 1.2 Functioning of the socialist system 1.2.1 Main features of the planning system 1.2.2 Institutions

2 POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT

2.1 Overall evaluation of the political development

3 TRANSFORMATION PROCESS IN GENERAL

3.1 Transformation strategy

4 REFORM MEASURES AND ECONOMIC POLICY

4.1 1990–1993: basic transformation measures 4.2 1994–1996: growth phase 4.3 1997–1999: recession stage

5 BASIC ECONOMIC INDICATORS

5.1 1990–1992: transformation recession 5.2 1993–1996: recovery and boom 5.3 1997–1999: recession 5.4 1999–2003: recovery and growth 5.5 Output comparison 5.6 Unemployment 5.7 Inflation

6 EXTERNAL BALANCE

6.1 Foreign trade 6.1.1 Situation before 1989 6.1.2 Liberalization and subsequent development 6.1.3 Foreign trade development factors 6.1.4 Changes in foreign trade 6.2 Other items on the current account 6.2.1 Balance of services 6.2.2 Balance of revenues 6.2.3 Current transfers 6.3 Financial account 6.3.1 Foreign direct investment 6.3.2 Other components of the financial account 6.4 balance of payments: summary 6.5 Migration

7 CHANGE OF PROPOPERTY RELATIONS and PRIVATIZATION

7.1 Restitutions 7.2 Small privatization 7.3 Mass privatization 1991–1994, 7.3.1 Privatization Methods 7.3.2 Voucher privatization 7.3.3 Dispute about the mass privatization as a whole 7.4 Privatization after 1995 7.4.1 Privatization as such 7.4.2 Changes in ownership structure 7.5 Privatization results

8 BANKING SECTOR AND STOCK EXCHANGE

8.1 Banking sector before 1989 8.2 banking sector development at the beginning of the transformation 8.2.1 New banks 8.2.2 Special banks 8.2.3 Dispute about banking loans 8.3 Crisis in the banking sector 8.4 Healing of the banking sector 8.4.1 Government help 8.4.2 Privatization of banks 8.5 Stock exchange

9 ENTERPRISES DURING TRANSITION

9.1 Situation of enterprises at the beginning of the transformation 9.2 Impact of reforms on the enterprises 9.3 Establishing new enterprises 9.4 Restructuring of enterprises 9.4.1 Definition 9.4.2 Dispute about restructuring at the beginning of transformation 9.4.3 How did restructuring proceed? 9.5 Development in various spheres of business activities

10 DEVELOPMENT OF INSTITUTIONS

10.1 General institutional development 10.2 Development of formal versus informal institutions 10.3 Legal system 10.3.1 Development of the legal environment 10.3.2 Criticism of the legal environment 10.3.3 Law enforceability: System of courts 10.3.4 Measuring of the legal environment quality 10.4 Bankruptcy law 10.5 Corruption 10.6 Market environment: economic freedom

11 TRANSFORMATION IN HUNGARY

11.1 Long-term political development 11.2 Economic situation and development before 1989 11.3 Political development 11.4 Basis of economic transformation 11.4.1 Gradualist period 11.4.2 The Bokros package 11.4.3 Currency problems at the beginning of the twenty-first century 11.5 Privatization 11.6 Economic results 11.6.1 Economic growth 11.6.2 Structure of the economy 11.6.3 Inflation 11.6.4 Unemployment 11.6.5 External relationships

12 TRANSFORMATION IN POLAND

12.1 Long-term political development 12.2 Economic situation 12.3 Political development during the transformation 12.4 Basis of economic transformation 12.4.1 The Balcerowicz plan and the development that followed 12.5 Privatization 12.6 Development of the banking sector and the stock exchange 12.7 Economic results 12.7.1 Economic growth 12.7.2 Structure of the economy 12.7.3 Unemployment 12.7.4 Inflation 12.7.5 External relationships

13 FINAL ASSESSMENT

13.1 Broad issues 13.2 Specific issues

Bibliography Index

"People who are looking for facts and figures concerning the transformation of the Czech economy but are unfamiliar with the Czech language should definitely put Libor Žídek’s book on their reading list. Žídek’s book is a valuable option for an international readership interested in the Czech economic transformation. Moreover, offering a large number of facts and figures and being based on a wide range of secondary literature, it is a good starting point for anyone who wants to ‘dig deeper’ into one of the various aspects of the economic reforms and of the overall economic development in the 1990s."
"Die Central European University Press bemüht sich, Wissenschaftler/inne/n aus der Region im internationalen Diskurs über ihre Heimatländer Raum zu verschaffen. Lobenswert bleiben die Zeit und Mühe, die Ž. investiert hat, sowie die zahlreichen Statistiken. Der Verfasser unterstützt seine über 500 Seiten umfassenden Ausführungen mit 148 Tabellen, 102 Grafiken sowie 60 Einschüben mit Erklärungen."