The collapse of the state-controlled economies of the former Eastern Bloc will certainly change the way the global economy operates. Bringing together scholars from a wide variety of theoretical perspectives, different nations and different empirical research traditions, this title examines the ongoing transition and the implications of market transitions for individual life chances, state economic policy and social stratification systems. The volume includes scholarship that focuses on both single nation and cross-national research, plus research contributions that compare state socialist/former state socialist political economies with conditions elsewhere in the world.

This book addresses the policy questions surrounding the challenge of transforming eastern European economies from their planned, administrative past to vibrant market-based entities. Jozef van Brabant considers in turn, the wider set of challenges facing these economies - stabilization, privatization, liberalization, institution building, and developing and maintaining the sociopolitical consensus - before examining the evolving role of the state. Using concrete examples from the eastern European countries throughout, including the Czech Republic and Bulgaria, this work systematically examines, in a society-wide context, the initial conditions of transformation, the policy tasks ahead and the manner in which policies have been pursued.

The essays in this collection work toward a larger goal of separating 'globalization' from strictly economic considerations. The authors instead look at globalization as a force that produces profound social and cultural consequences, including migration, struggles for social change, and the transformations of aesthetic practices.

In 1991 "Communism" collapsed. The cold war was over and the West had won. Whole cities, Moscow, St Petersburg, Warsaw, Beijing, Budapest and Bucharest, whole countries indeed, were privatised for nothing or next to nothing. This was probably the greatest expansion of the world market in history. And yet, according to national income measurements of the CIA, OECD, World Bank and IMF, this gigantic expansion of market production, led to a decline in market production in the very countries where it was introduced. How to explain this paradox? This book traces the origin of the West’s national income measurements, from their origin in the 1923/4 Balance developed in the USSR, to the USA in the early 1930s via two Soviet exiles, Simon Kuznets and Wassily Leontief, and then back to the USSR again, after a vigorous debate, through a protégé of Kuznets, Abram Bergson. The AFC imputed national incomes to a centrally planned economy, based on physical not income measurements. This book provides a detailed assessment of the failure of the AFC method to measure the real growth of actual market production during the transition period. This book provides a detailed account of the application of national income measurements to the centrally planned economies. It assesses all of the major contributors to this debate, including Colin Clark, Naum Jasny, Alexander Gerschenkron, G.Warren Nutter and Abram Bergson. It provides a new much higher, estimate of the expansion of market production during the transition period, based on an estimate of the actual growth of real market production. It discusses the very significant implications of this re-estimate for contemporary theories of globalisation.

The Agrarian Question and Reformism in Latin America epitomizes the emerging tradition of conflict-oriented approaches to problems of economic, agricultural, and rurual development in Third World nations. Drawing on firsthand observations of the agrarian crises in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Peru, and ten other Latin-American nations, Alain de Janvry effectively blends Marxist theories of world-wide economic development with empirical analysis and policy recommendations. De Janvry offers both a careful examination of the conditions of underdevelopment in Latin America and detailed discussions of the achievements and limits of technological change, land reform, integrated rural development, and basic-needs program. The Agrarian Question and Reformism in Latin America is written for both practitioners and academicians. Students of economic development will benefit especially from its intelligent explication of conflict-oriented theory and technique.

Agrarian transformations within and across countries have been significantly and dynamically altered during the past few decades compared to previous eras, provoking a variety of reactions from rural poor communities worldwide. The recent convergence of various crises – financial, food, energy and environmental – has put the nexus between ‘rural development’ and ‘development in general’ back onto the center stage of theoretical, policy and political agendas in the world today. Confronting these issues will require (re)engaging with critical theories, taking politics seriously, and utilizing rigorous and appropriate research methodologies. These are the common messages and implications of the various contributions to this collection in the context of a scholarship that is critical in two senses: questioning prescriptions from mainstream perspectives and interrogating popular conventions in radical thinking. This book focuses on key perspectives, frameworks and methodologies in agrarian change and peasant studies. The contributors are leading scholars in the field of rural development studies: Henry Bernstein, Terence J. Byres, Saturnino M. Borras Jr, Marc Edelman, Cristóbal Kay, Benedict Kerkvliet, Philip McMichael, Shahra Razavi, Ian Scoones and Teodor Shanin. This book was previously published as a special issue of the Journal of Peasant Studies.

This book examines patterns of growth, stagnation, and crisis in the Peruvian mining industry in twentieth century, presenting an assessment of the nature of some internal constraints which prevents mining companies in Peru from responding to price incentives and increased demand for their products.

Handbook of Green Economics reveals the breadth and depth of advanced research on sustainability and growth, also identifying opportunities for future developments. Through its multidimensional examination, it demonstrates how overarching concepts, such as green growth, low carbon economy, circular economy and others work together. Some chapters reflect on different discourses on the green economy, including pro-growth perspectives and transformative approaches that entail de-growth. Others argue that green policies can spark economic innovation, particularly in developing and emerging market economies. Part literature summary, part analysis and part argument, this book shows how the right conditions can stimulate economic growth while achieving environmental sustainability. This book will be a valuable resource for graduate students and academic researchers whose focus is on the green economy. With an increasing interest in the topic among researchers and policymakers, users will find different theoretical perspectives and explore policy implications in this growing subject area. - Covers the failures of the past, the challenges of the present, and the opportunities of the future - Surveys 10 aspects of the green economy, including conceptualization, natural capital, poverty and inequality, welfare, and finance - Emphasizes the theoretical and empirical aspects of greening approaches that are policy-relevant