The Political Economy Of International Reform And Reconstruction

When he fled Austria in 1934, Ludwig von Mises left behind a wealth of writings that, he supposed, were lost forever. Seized by the Nazi Gestapo, the papers were subsequently captured by the Soviet KGB and were archived in Moscow. Their discovery in 1996, by Professors Richard and Anna Ebeling of Hillsdale College, received widespread attention. In cooperation with Hillsdale College, Liberty Fund will make available these long-lost writings, many of which have not previously appeared in English, as part of a three-volume edition of selected writings by one of the unsurpassed economists of the twentieth century. In the first of the volumes to be published are contained separate previously unpublished works that Mises wrote from 1940 through 1944, when much of the world was at war. The papers include: Guiding Principles for the Reconstruction of Austria (1940); An Eastern Democratic Union: A Proposal for the Establishment of a Durable Peace in Eastern Europe (1943); Aspects of American Foreign Trade Policy (1943); Mexico's Economic Problems (1943); The Main Issues in Present-Day Monetary Controversies (1944), and; A Non-Inflationary Proposal for Post-War Monetary Reconstruction (1944).

Policymakers around the world have increasingly agreed that macroeconomic discipline, microeconomic liberalization, and outward orientation are prerequisites for economic success. But what are the political conditions that make economic transformation possible? At a conference held at the Institute for International Economics, leaders of economic reform recounted their efforts to bring about change and discussed the impact of the political climate on the success of their efforts. In this book, these leaders explore the political conditions conducive to the success of policy reforms. Did economic crisis strengthen the hands of the reformers? Was the rapidity with which reforms were instituted crucial? Did the reformers have a "honeymoon" period in which to transform the economy? The authors answer these and other questions, as well as providing first-hand accounts of the politically charged atmosphere surrounding reform efforts in their countries.

Services markets remain highly regulated and international trade and investment is restricted. Previous works have identified the scope for significant gains from trade, yet those results are often debated and the progress on reform has been slow. Parts I and II in Priorities and Pathways in Services Reform help fill the gap in the research around this debate. Part I OCo Quantitative Studies contains up-to-date assessment and evaluations of the impact of policy in a range of services markets in different countries (through cross-country modelling of the impacts of a reform program). Part II OCo Political Economy Studies builds on this to address the understanding of what makes a reform successful, going beyond a quantification of the benefits of reform. This book fills that gap by reporting and reviewing the experience of reform across different sectors and countries. Ten key lessons are identified for successful reform. Readers will find fresh insights into managing complex issues in services reform."

This book looks at the impact multinational companies have in post-conflict environments, the role they have and how they are governed, drawing on detailed fieldwork in Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Rwanda.

Shortlisted for the 2013 BISA IPEG Book Prize, this book explores how Eastern Europe’s post-communist transition can only be understood as part of a broader interrogation of neoliberal hegemony in the global political economy, and provides a detailed historical account of the emergence of neoliberalism in Eastern Central Europe. Adopting an innovative Gramscian approach to post-communist transition, this book charts the rise to hegemony of neoliberal social forces. Using transition in Poland as a starting point, the author traces how particular social forces most intimately associated with transnational capital successful in the struggle over competing reform strategies. Transition is broken down into three stages; the "first wave" illustrates how the rise of particular social forces shaped by global change gave rise to a neoliberal strategy of capitalism from the 1970s. It goes on to show how the political economy of Europeanization, associated with EU enlargement instilled a "second wave" of neoliberalisation. Finally, exploring recent populist and left wing alternatives in the context of the current financial crisis, the book outlines how counter-hegemonic struggle might oppose a "third wave" neoliberalisation. The International Political Economy of Transition will be of interest to students and scholars of international political economy, post-communist studies and European politics

This book analyzes the political-economic implications of system transformation as experienced now in Central and Eastern Europe and in China. The whole societal organization being in motion and economic activitybeing in a deep recession, political leaders will find it extremely difficult to secure consensus and support for redesigning institutions, and stabilizing and restructuring activity. The ensuing process is certainly not one of optimal control, but has rather evolutionary characteristics leading constantly to paradoxes and dilemmas. The first part of the book discusses different paradigms within which the complex process of transformation could fruitfully be analyzed. Democratic theory, bargaining theory, efficiency theory, institutionalism - all contribute to the understanding of the complex phenomena. Keytopics of the second part are among others: policy aspects of privatization, adjustment of fiscal system and policy, industrialrestructuring, the different case of China. The book illustrates that the first euphoria of planning the transition to markets was rather naive, analytically and politically. Transformation is not only an economic puzzle, not even in the first place. It is very much of a sociopolitical problem andhas to be treated as such. The book can be used as a reader or as background literature in corresponding course.

This book represents the manifestation of a long-term effort to explore the multifaceted impact of neo-liberal globalisation on institutional reform in the developing world, with special reference to the transformation trajectory of State Planning Organisation in Turkey. Analytically, it strives to locate the in-depth analysis of Turkish development planning and the changing fortunes of the State Planning Organisation within the broader context of the 'states versus markets' debate in the political economy literature in order to assess the technical viability and institutional manifestations of development planning under the profound and ever increasing pressures of globalisation. To this end, a comparative institutional theoretical framework is adopted which engages critically with the neo-classical/neo-liberal approach to macroeconomic policy making, and gauges the potential influence of domestic institutional structures in generating effective responses to changes in global economy.

Winner of the Donner Prize for the best book on public policy by a Canadian in 2014.Whenever governments change policies - tax, expenditure, or regulatory policies, among others - there will typically be losers: people or groups who relied upon and invested in physical, financial, or human capital predicated on, or even deliberately induced by the pre-reform set of policies. Theissue of whether and when to mitigate the costs associated with policy changes, either through explicit government compensation, grandfathering, phased or postponed implementation, is ubiquitous across the policy landscape. Much of the existing literature covers government takings, yet compensationfor expropriation comprises merely a tiny part of the universe of such strategies.Dealing with Losers: The Political Economy of Policy Transitions explores both normative and political rationales for transition cost mitigation strategies and explains which strategies might create an aggregate, overall enhancement in societal welfare beyond mere compensation. Professor Michael J.Trebilcock highlights the political rationales for mitigating such costs and the ability of potential losers to mobilize and obstruct socially beneficial changes in the absence of well-crafted transition cost mitigation strategies. This book explores the political economy of transition costmitigation strategies in a wide variety of policy contexts including public pensions, U.S. home mortgage interest deductions, immigration, trade liberalization, agricultural supply management, and climate change, providing tested examples and realistic strategies for genuine policy reform.