THE CAPITALIST REVOLUTION IN EASTERN EUROPE: A Contribution to the Economic Theory of Systemic Change

In The Capitalist Revolution in Eastern Europe, Laszlo Csaba offers an applied economics interpretation of the modernization attempts which followed the collapse of the Soviet empire and of the state socialist experiment. This important book presents a comprehensive overview of empirical and theoretical developments in order to analyse and interpret what common factors or trends are discernible in the transformation process.

From 1989 to 1994 a loss of employment and production was recorded in Eastern Europe which exceeded that of the great depression of the 1930s. This book questions why conventional economic doctrines seem to have failed in some countries but have been more successful in others. What - if anything - went wrong with an experiment which involved some of the most prominent economists in the world? Why did shock therapy fail in Russia and why is gradualism reaching its outer most limits in Hungary? In attempting to build a bridge between abstract economic theory and the empirical material available in Eastern Europe, the author adopts a broad framework of analysis making use of data and theories drawn from sociology, history and political science.

In developing an analytical framework, and through its application by a single author, this book presents a unique, authoritative perspective on the transformation of Eastern Europe. Students, academic researchers, journalists and policymakers will welcome this decisive assessment of the empirical and theoretical insights resulting from the transformation of Eastern Europe.

László Csaba, Department of International Relations and European Studies, Central European University, Hungary