Privatizing Eastern Europe: The Role of Markets and Ownership in the Transition

Jozef M. van Brabant

ISBN 10: 0792318617 / ISBN 13: 9780792318613

Published by Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1992

About this Item

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: Privatizing Eastern Europe: The Role of Markets and Ownership in the Transition
• Publisher: Kluwer Academic Publishers
• Publication Date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0792318617
• ISBN 13: 9780792318613
• Binding: Hardback
• Condition: New
• Weight: 795 grams

About this title

Synopsis

With the revolutions in eastern Europe since mid-1989, two main transformations are envisaged: pluralistic political democracy and a market economy based largely on private property and self-interest. One element that straddles those two objectives is what to do with state-owned property during the transition from a planned to a market environment. Privatizing Eastern Europe looks at the economic goals that may be pursued in various ways: by taking the state out of the allocation of the service streams of existing capital assets in general and state-owned enterprises in particular.
The volume advocates the urgency of taking politics out of resource allocation. Since this cannot be done through divestment, particularly for large assets, it is imperative that alternatives be put in place at the earliest possible opportunity in the economic transformation. For petty assets (housing, small shops, handicrafts, restaurants, etc.) quick divestment is desirable. For other assets, the principal agent problem will need to be taken care of by investing management with the task of acting in the interest of real owners.