Macroeconomic Problems of Transformation: Stabilization.

In Macroeconomic Problems of Transformation a distinguished group of economists examines the cause of the dramatic output collapse in the transforming economies of Eastern Europe and formulates policies to promote economic recovery.

Drawing on scholarship from East and West, this book features discussion of such important aspects of the transformation process as the role of monetary policy, fiscal crises, exchange rate policies and privatization. In particular, several authors stress the importance of dealing with the distortions still existing in financial sectors and argue that export-led growth may be a potential driving force of accumulation in the economies currently in transition. The causes and consequences of the current fiscal crises are analysed, as are the processes of wage formation and privatization, in each case combining theoretical insight with empirical findings from the transforming economies. Later papers make comparisons with the reconstruction after the Second World War, discuss the effects of different exchange rate policies and consider the role of Western economies in promoting growth in Central and Eastern Europe.

Edited by Hansjörg Herr, Professor, Fachhochschule für Wirtschaft, Berlin, Silke Tober, formerly Institute for Economic Policy and Economic History, Free University of Berlin, Germany and Andreas Westphal, European Central Bank, Germany