Constitutional Aspects Of The Transition To A Market Economy

On cover & title page: Collection

This book explains how various forces related to each other and how the conflicts were resolved - or not in Colombia's transtion to an open economy.

This book examines the institutional dimension of markets and the rules and institutions that condition the operation of market economies.

Papers from a workshop held at the Institute for Advanced Study, in Berlin, 2000.

Government and Markets is the first book to tackle systematically and in a multidisciplinary fashion the role of democratic governments during and after the transition from plan to market. The role of governments during the transformation is important for eliminating the obstacles and putting into place the conditions for the emergence of a viable market economy. Moreover, governments need to play a key role in establishing a political-legal order that promotes political liberties and economic freedom. In contrast to other literature on the transformation process in formerly planned systems, this volume focuses also on the creation of autonomous and accountable governments as part of the liberal economic order. Finally, the volume analyzes the role of the legal state in creating a competitive market economy. Government and Markets addresses itself to scholars, politicians policy makers interested in the establishment of a democratic, competitive order in formerly planned political economic systems.

In response to mounting debt crises and macroeconomic instability in the 1980s, many countries in the developing world adopted neoliberal policies promoting the unfettered play of market forces and deregulation of the economy and attempted large-scale structural adjustment, including the privatization of public-sector industries. How much influence did various societal groups have on this transition to a market economy, and what explains the variances in interest-group influence across countries? In this book, Agnieszka Paczyńska explores these questions by studying the role of organized labor in the transition process in four countries in different regions—the Czech Republic and Poland in eastern Europe, Egypt in the Middle East, and Mexico in Latin America. In Egypt and Poland, she shows, labor had substantial influence on the process, whereas in the Czech Republic and Mexico it did not. Her explanation highlights the complex relationship between institutional structures and the “critical junctures” provided by economic crises, revealing that the ability of groups like organized labor to wield influence on reform efforts depends to a great extent on not only their current resources (such as financial autonomy and legal prerogatives) but also the historical legacies of their past ties to the state. This new edition features an epilogue that analyzes the role of organized labor uprisings in 2011, the protests in Egypt, the overthrow of Mubarak, and the post-Mubarak regime.