Modern Economic Systems and their Transformation

by J. Porket

Overview

Societies, whether traditional or modern, experience tension between spontaneity (individual freedom) and control (regulation). Consequently, economies as a subsystem of society experience it too. More specifically, they experience a tension between economic individualism and economic collectivism, which in modern economies revolves around the role of the state in the economy. Since the collapse of communism, this tension has manifested itself not as a tension between market capitalism and command socialism but as a tension between the free market and the interventionist variants of market capitalism. Although currently economic and political liberalization is in evidence worldwide, not only in post-communist societies, its outcome remains uncertain. Liberal democracy in the sense of democratic politics and free-market economics has not triumphed hitherto, and also its future is far from assured. The end of history is not in sight.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780312213244
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	07/13/1998
Series:	St Antony's Series
Edition description:	1998
Pages:	318
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.03(d)

About the Author

J.L. PORKET is a Senior Associate at St Antony's College, Oxford. He specialises in economics and economic sociology. He is Czech by origin, and left Czechoslovakia in 1969. He was formerly a research fellow at the Prague School of Economics. He has published in both Czech and English on communist systems in Europe and the Soviet Union and post-communist transformations. He has also lectured at Brunel University.

Table of Contents

Contents List of Tables List of Figures Introduction PART I: TENSIONS An Historical Overview Type of Modern Economic System Environment of Modern Economic Systems PART II: SYSTEMS Market Capitalism Command Capitalism Market Socialism Command Socialism PART III: GOVERNMENTS The Government Economy The Welfare State Welfare Under Command Socialism PART IV: TRANSFORMATION Economic Transformation Post-Communist Transformation Models for Transformation Components and Dynamics of Economic Transformation Economic Transformation in Practice Privatization Housholds Attitudes and Politics PART V: FINALE The Individual, the Market, and the State The World in Transition Notes Select Bibliography Index

Editorial Reviews

Opens with an overview of millennia-long economic development, based on the distinction between traditional and modern economies, then distinguishes the four pure types of modern economic systems--market capitalism, market socialism, command socialism, and command capitalism. The author then examines the impact of each type on efficiency, prosperity, individual liberty, and the political system, and discusses government engagement in non-marketed economic activities. Against this backdrop, economic transformation is reviewed as a result of the ongoing tension between economic individualism and economic collectivism. Concludes with a discussion of economic liberalization. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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