Pryor, Frederic L.

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Swarthmore College Works Economics Faculty Works Economics Fall 1994 Review Of "Privatization In The Transition To A Market Economy: Studies Of Preconditions And Policies In Eastern Europe" By J. S. Earle, R. Frydman, And A. Rapaczynski Frederic L. Pryor Swarthmore College, fpryor1@swarthmore.edu This work is brought to you for free and open access by . It has been accepted for inclusion in Economics Faculty Works by an authorized administrator of Works. For more information, please contact myworks@swarthmore.edu. Follow this and additional works at: https://works.swarthmore.edu/fac-economics  Part of the Economics Commons Let us know how access to these works benefits you  Recommended Citation Frederic L. Pryor. (1994). "Review Of "Privatization In The Transition To A Market Economy: Studies Of Preconditions And Policies In Eastern Europe" By J. S. Earle, R. Frydman, And A. Rapaczynski". Slavic Review. Volume 53, Issue 3. 947-947. DOI: 10.2307/2501598 https://works.swarthmore.edu/fac-economics/216  ReviewAuthor(s): Frederic L. PryorReview by: Frederic L. PryorSource: Slavic Review, Vol. 53, No. 3 (Autumn, 1994), p. 947Published by: Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian StudiesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2501598Accessed: 11-04-2016 14:03 UTC Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available athttp://about.jstor.org/terms JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusteddigital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information aboutJSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies is collaborating with JSTOR todigitize, preserve and extend access to Slavic ReviewThis content downloaded from 130.58.65.20 on Mon, 11 Apr 2016 14:03:21 UTCAll use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Book Reviews 947 Privatization in the Transition to a Market Economy: Studies of Preconditions and Policies in Eastern Europe. Eds. John S. Earle, Roman Frydman- and Anidrze; Rapaczyynski. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1993. vii, 221 pp. Index. Tables. $45.00, hard bound. The nine studies in this volume deal with the initial conditions of privatization, the policies followed in four nations and the special roles of the stock market and foreign capital. Five of the essays deal with Hungary, two with Poland, two with Czechoslovakia and one with Romnania. The malnLuscripts were closed around the beginning of 1992 so that a number of interesting recent developments are not discussed. The editors introduce the book with a provocative proposition: those nations, such as Czechoslovakia and Romania, that followed a more orthodox commiiunist road have been better positioned to caririy out riadical and aggressive privatization programs than nations such as Hungary and Poland, where the managers of the state enterprises had more decision-making autonomy during the communist period. The former na- tions have been able to employ voucher schemes or to employ ml-utual-fund type institutions to maintain a broad ownership base; the latter nations have placed the greatest ermphasis of their reform programs on auctions, sales to foreigners, corpor- atization of state enterprises with either no private ownership or else ownership dom- iinance by insiders (managers and workers) of the enterprise. The cases of East Ger- many and the Soviet Union, not to mention the economically less developed commi-uniist nations such as Albania, China or others, required their proposition to be modified so as to take in more varied experien-ces. I founld man-y of the essays qIuite informiiative-particularly those by Laszlo Urbain andJan Mladek. My major- frustration in reading this book is that I wanted the authors to dig more deeply into their topic. Most of the essays, however, do contain many useful nuggets of information and analysis. Of particular interest are the discussions of the adminstrative and political problems encountered during the privatizationi pro- cess. The authors also draw from a var-iety of mater-ials that are not readily available so that readers can gain a taste of the debates on privatization issues in the foLur nations. Nevertheless, the book bears all the marks of a rush job. The various authors have differenit frameworks of an-ialysis so th-at major issues raised by one author with regard to one country receive no attention- by those writing aboLut other nations. MLuch of the discussion about preconditions goes over well trod ground and more descriptive mia- terials than- are necessary. Most importantly, many of the critical issues concerniing privatization receive little or no attention at all, for instance, the phasing of restruc- turing and privatization, the distribution-al impact of various types of privatization programiis, the manner in which the new pr-ivate enterprises are nurtured by the gov- ernment, the degree to which ownership of the enterprises is concentrated or dis- persed, and the impact of this on the behavior of the managers. In any edited volume, individual aulthors like to wander off on their own; aind in this book the editors were not tough enough to knock heads together in order to force them to follow the same analytic framlework so that a set of issues could be delineatedl that could be systematically examined for the foulr nations. In the introdLuction it would have also been useful if the editors had presented several sulmmary tables so that readers could see the relative importance of different types of privatization programs and in which sectors the different programs were caririied oLut in the different countries. If r-eader-s are willing to take the effort to m-lake their own synthesis, the book has ImluCh to offer. Fi-nic,,m;iz L. PRYvoR Swarthmore College and Brookings Institution Hungarian Foreign Policy: The Experience of a New Democracy. By Joseph C. Kun. The Washington Papers, 160. Westport: Praeger, 1993. xxi, 168 pp. Index. $42.95, paper. It is axiomatic that relations between states are governed by self-interest. Trhe uneven distribution of power leads to another asymmetry, in the degree that states rely onThis content downloaded from 130.58.65.20 on Mon, 11 Apr 2016 14:03:21 UTCAll use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms

Review Of  Privatization In The Transition To A Market Economy: Studies Of Preconditions And Policies In Eastern Europe  By J. S. Earle, R. Frydman, And A. Rapaczynski

Swarthmore College 
Works 
Economics Faculty Works Economics 
Fall 1994 
Review Of "Privatization In The Transition To A Market Economy: 
Studies Of Preconditions And Policies In Eastern Europe" By J. S. 
Earle, R. Frydman, And A. Rapaczynski 
Frederic L. Pryor 
Swarthmore College, fpryor1@swarthmore.edu 
Follow this and additional works at: https://works.swarthmore.edu/fac-economics 
 Part of the Economics Commons 
Let us know how access to these works benefits you 
 
Recommended Citation 
Frederic L. Pryor. (1994). "Review Of "Privatization In The Transition To A Market Economy: Studies Of 
Preconditions And Policies In Eastern Europe" By J. S. Earle, R. Frydman, And A. Rapaczynski". Slavic 
Review. Volume 53, Issue 3. 947-947. DOI: 10.2307/2501598 
https://works.swarthmore.edu/fac-economics/216 
This work is brought to you for free by Swarthmore College Libraries' Works. It has been accepted for inclusion in 
Economics Faculty Works by an authorized administrator of Works. For more information, please contact 
myworks@swarthmore.edu. 
 
Review
Author(s): Frederic L. Pryor
Review by: Frederic L. Pryor
Source: Slavic Review, Vol. 53, No. 3 (Autumn, 1994), p. 947
Published by: Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2501598
Accessed: 11-04-2016 14:03 UTC
 
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
http://about.jstor.org/terms
 
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted
digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about
JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies is collaborating with JSTOR to
digitize, preserve and extend access to Slavic Review
This content downloaded from 130.58.65.20 on Mon, 11 Apr 2016 14:03:21 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 Book Reviews 947
 Privatization in the Transition to a Market Economy: Studies of Preconditions and Policies
 in Eastern Europe. Eds. John S. Earle, Roman Frydman- and Anidrze; Rapaczyynski.
 New York: St. Martin's Press, 1993. vii, 221 pp. Index. Tables. $45.00, hard bound.
 The nine studies in this volume deal with the initial conditions of privatization, the
 policies followed in four nations and the special roles of the stock market and foreign
 capital. Five of the essays deal with Hungary, two with Poland, two with Czechoslovakia
 and one with Romnania. The malnLuscripts were closed around the beginning of 1992
 so that a number of interesting recent developments are not discussed.
 The editors introduce the book with a provocative proposition: those nations,
 such as Czechoslovakia and Romania, that followed a more orthodox commiiunist road
 have been better positioned to caririy out riadical and aggressive privatization programs
 than nations such as Hungary and Poland, where the managers of the state enterprises
 had more decision-making autonomy during the communist period. The former na-
 tions have been able to employ voucher schemes or to employ ml-utual-fund type
 institutions to maintain a broad ownership base; the latter nations have placed the
 greatest ermphasis of their reform programs on auctions, sales to foreigners, corpor-
 atization of state enterprises with either no private ownership or else ownership dom-
 iinance by insiders (managers and workers) of the enterprise. The cases of East Ger-
 many and the Soviet Union, not to mention the economically less developed commi-uniist
 nations such as Albania, China or others, required their proposition to be modified
 so as to take in more varied experien-ces.
 I founld man-y of the essays qIuite informiiative-particularly those by Laszlo Urbain
 andJan Mladek. My major- frustration in reading this book is that I wanted the authors
 to dig more deeply into their topic. Most of the essays, however, do contain many
 useful nuggets of information and analysis. Of particular interest are the discussions
 of the adminstrative and political problems encountered during the privatizationi pro-
 cess. The authors also draw from a var-iety of mater-ials that are not readily available
 so that readers can gain a taste of the debates on privatization issues in the foLur
 nations.
 Nevertheless, the book bears all the marks of a rush job. The various authors have
 differenit frameworks of an-ialysis so th-at major issues raised by one author with regard
 to one country receive no attention- by those writing aboLut other nations. MLuch of the
 discussion about preconditions goes over well trod ground and more descriptive mia-
 terials than- are necessary. Most importantly, many of the critical issues concerniing
 privatization receive little or no attention at all, for instance, the phasing of restruc-
 turing and privatization, the distribution-al impact of various types of privatization
 programiis, the manner in which the new pr-ivate enterprises are nurtured by the gov-
 ernment, the degree to which ownership of the enterprises is concentrated or dis-
 persed, and the impact of this on the behavior of the managers.
 In any edited volume, individual aulthors like to wander off on their own; aind in
 this book the editors were not tough enough to knock heads together in order to force
 them to follow the same analytic framlework so that a set of issues could be delineatedl
 that could be systematically examined for the foulr nations. In the introdLuction it would
 have also been useful if the editors had presented several sulmmary tables so that
 readers could see the relative importance of different types of privatization programs
 and in which sectors the different programs were caririied oLut in the different countries.
 If r-eader-s are willing to take the effort to m-lake their own synthesis, the book has ImluCh
 to offer.
 Fi-nic,,m;iz L. PRYvoR
 Swarthmore College and Brookings Institution
 Hungarian Foreign Policy: The Experience of a New Democracy. By Joseph C. Kun. The
 Washington Papers, 160. Westport: Praeger, 1993. xxi, 168 pp. Index. $42.95, paper.
 It is axiomatic that relations between states are governed by self-interest. Trhe uneven
 distribution of power leads to another asymmetry, in the degree that states rely on
This content downloaded from 130.58.65.20 on Mon, 11 Apr 2016 14:03:21 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms


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Review Of Privatization In The Transition To A Market Economy: Studies Of Preconditions And Policies In Eastern Europe By J. S. Earle, R. Frydman, And A. Rapaczynski

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