Economic Transformation in Eastern Europe and the Distribution of Income

by Anthony Barnes Atkinson, John Micklewright

Overview

Who gains and who loses from economic transformation in Eastern Europe is a key question—but one that is too rarely discussed. To understand the implications of the move to a market economy, it is necessary to know more about the distribution of income under Communism. This book assembles evidence about earnings, dispersion, income inequality and poverty in Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, the USSR (with separate information for Russia, the Ukraine and other republics). It adopts a comparative perspective—bringing out the differences between these countries and the West, as well as within Central and Eastern Europe. It shows that widely held beliefs about Eastern Europe under Communism are not borne out by the evidence.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521433297
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	10/01/1992
Pages:	468
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 1.18(d)

Table of Contents

List of figures; List of tables; Acknowledgements; 1. Introduction and summary; 2. Why study the distribution pre-1990?; 3. Data: availability, quality and comparability; 4. The distribution of earnings; 5. The distribution of household incomes; 6. Interpreting income data; 7. Measuring poverty; 8. Poverty and the safety net; Sources and methods; List of tables in statistical appendix; Statistical appendix; Bibliography; Name index; Subject index.

Editorial Reviews

"As well as contributing authoritative calculations on comparative income inequality, this volume is clearly destined to be a major research resource for future scholarship in the area." Journal of Economic Literature

"...will become the authoritative source for academics and researchers examining both developments in regional trade and the distribution of income during and after the transformation process of the socialist economies....[T]he book is a veritable treasure." Hans-Pater Brunner, Slavic Review

From the Publisher