中东欧经济转型的成就与挑战

文章对中东欧经济转型进行了回顾,指出了中东欧经济转型的特点。在此基础上,文章分析了中东欧经济转型的成就,强调中东欧国家在建立市场经济体制和经济发展上取得了重大进展。与此同时,目前遭受全球金融危机冲击的中东欧国家也面临着许多挑战,需要推动许多领域,特别是社会领域的改革。     

Russia and Eastern Europe: Is Transition Over?

Though it is still to early to assess the final outcome of transformation in Central and Eastern Europe, since 1995 there is a growing perception that the transition process is by and large completed in Central Europe and even in Eastern Europe. This is not yet the case where Russia is concerned. It is not just that the process began later; what happened there is still percieved as confusing and unclear, and hence gives way to very contrasting judgements. Hence emphasis is put on Russia in the following review essay.     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article:
Bonin, John P.; Székely, István P., eds, The development and reform of financial systems in Central and Eastern Europe
Yegor Gaidar and Karl Otto Pöhl, Russian Reform/International Money
Gutmann, Gemot & Wagner, Ulrich, Ö konomische Erfolge und Misserfolge der deutschen Vereinigung - Eine Zwischenbilanz
Neuhold, H., Havlik, P. & Suppan, A., eds. Political and Economic Transformation in East Central Europe
Chernyshev, Igor, Labour Statistics for a Market Economy
Landesmann, Michael A. and Székely, István P., eds, Industrial Restructuring and Trade Reorientation in Eastern Europe
Lim, Lin Lean and Sziráczki, György, Employment Challenges and Policy Responses: Chinese and International Perspectives
Warner, Malcolm, The Management of Human Resources in Chinese Industry
Poznanski, Kazimierz Z., ed., The Evolutionary Transition to Capitalism
Lorentzen, Jochen, Opening up Hungary to the World Market, External Constraints and Opportunities
Lavigne, Marie, The Economics of Transition. From Socialist Economy to Market Economy
Kornai, János, Highways and Byways: Studies on Reform and Postcommunist Transition
Zwas, Adam, From Failed Communism to Underdeveloped Capitalism. Transformation of Eastern Europe, the Post-Soviet Union and China .
Jackson, Marvin & Biesbrouck, Wouter, eds, Marketization, restructuring and competition in transition industries of Central and Eastern Europe
Gros, Daniel and Steinherr, Alfred, Winds of change. Economic Transition in Central and Eastern Europe
Estrin, Saul, Brada, Josef C, Gelb, Alan and Singh, Inderjit, eds, Restructuring and Privatization in Central Eastern Europe. Case Studies of Firms in Transition     

NATO,the EU and Central Europe: Differing Symbolic Shapes in Newspaper Accounts of Enlargement

This essay investigates the contemporary evolution of the symbolic shape of Central Europe by conducting a quantitative and qualitative content analysis of newspaper articles from the Lexis–Nexis database covering NATO and EU expansion. The results of this content analysis show that Central Europe is associated with different symbolic shapes at different times and in different political contexts, and therefore the idea of one hegemonic Central Europe, either transcending time and context or tied to an institutional identity, is a fallacy. ‘Central Europe’ has shaped NATO and EU expansions, but similarly those processes have constructed differing geopolitical images of Central Europe that are mediated to the consumers of the newspapers. In contrast to these differing symbolic shapes, a series of common structures of expectation were associated with Central Europe that constructed the region as different from Eastern Europe.     

Book reviews

Book reviewed in this article
Transition Banking-Financial Development of Central and Eastern Europe. By Ronald W. Anderson and Chantal Kegels, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.
Paying the Price. The Wage Crisis in Central and Eastern Europe. By Daniel Vaughan Whitehead, (ed.) Basingostoke: Macmillan Press, 1998.
Restructuring Eastern Europe: The Microeconomics of the Transition Process. By Soumitra Sharma, (ed.) Aldershot: Edward Elgar, 1997.
Kremlin Capitalism. Privatizing the Russian Economy. By Joseph R. Blasi, Maya Kroumove and Douglas Kruse Cornell Univeristy Press, 1997.
Privatization, Politics, and Economic Performance in Hungary. By Zoltan Antal-Mokos, Cambridge University Press, 1998.
Macroeconomic Instability in Post-Communist Countries. By Jacek Rostowski, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998.
Recreating Europe: The European Union's Poticy towards Central and Eastern Europe. By Alan Mayhew
Enlarging the EU Eastwards. By Heather Grabbe and Kirsty Hughes
The Economics of German Unification: An Introduction. By Thomas Lange and Geoffrey Pugh
Postsocialist Path ways: Transformiitg Politics and Property in East Central Europe. By David Stark and László Bruszt
Tax Modelling for Economies in Transition. By Paul Bernd Spahn and Mark Pearson (eds)     

Book reviews

Book reviewed in this article
Coming to Terms with Accession. Forum Report of the Policy Initiative
The Technology of Transition. Science and Technology Policies for Transition Countries. By Dyker, David A.
Transforming the core: Restructuring industrial enterprises in Russia and Central Europe. By Ernst, Maurice
Economies in Transition: Comparing Asia and Eastern Europe. By Woo, Wing Thye, Stephen Parker and Jefferey D. Sachs, eds., Cambridge, Massachusetts and London, England
nade growth in transition economies: Export impediments for Central and Eastern Europe, By Richard N. Cooper     

Book reviews

Book reviewed in this article
Hardy, Jane and Al Rainnie, Restructuring Krakow: Desperately Seeking Capitalism
Centre for Co-operation with the Economies in Transition (CCET), Regional Problems and Policies in the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic , OECD, 1996.
Newbery, David M. G., Tax and Benefit Reform in Central and Eastern Europe , CEPR, 1995.
Anderson, Ronald W.; Berglöf, Erik; Mizsei, Kálmán, Banking sector development in Central and Eastern Europe: Forum Report of the Economic Policy Initiative
Levitsky, Jacob, ed., Small Business in Transition Economies: Promoting enterprise in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union
World Bank, World Development Report 1966: From Plun to Market
Fingleton, John, Eleanor Fox, Damien Neven and Paul Seabright, Competition Policy and the Transformation of Central Europe
Frydman, Roman, Cheryl W. Gray and Andrzej Rapaczynski, eds., Corporate Governance in Central Europe
Abrahams, Ray, ed., After Socialism: Land Reform and Social Change in Eastern Europe
Slay, Ben, ed., De-monopolization and Competition Policy in Post- Communist Economies Westview Press, 1996.
Kaminski, Bartlomiej, ed., The International Polirics of Eurasia     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed:
Klaus Meyer, Direct Investment in Economies in Transition
Josef C. Brada and Inderjit Singh (eds), Corporate Governance in Central Eastern Europe: Case Studies of Firms in Transition
Janine Wedel, Collision and Collusion. The Strange Case of Western Aid to Eastern Europe 1989-98     

Taxonomy methods in credit risk evaluation

In their bid for integration with the European Union, the countries of Central and Eastern Europe are faced with the need to introduce numerous significant improvements to their economic systems. A highly important role in this process is to make changes in the existing banking systems. The credit risk evaluation method presented here, using taxonomic measures to plot so-called credit risk maps, may be used to develop sound principles of credit policies. It is a proposition that could solve one of the many problems arising in the course of adaptation of banking systems in Central and Eastern Europe to conditions of market economy.     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article:
Batt, Judy, East Central Europe: From reform to transformation
Prindl, Andreas, et al., Banking and Finance in Eastern Europe     

Why is China different from Eastern Europe? Perspectives from organization theory

We draw from recent work in organization theory to explain the differences in reform strategies between China and Eastern Europe. An experimentation approach was adopted in China whereas a big bang approach was more favored in Eastern Europe. The explanation is based on differences in the organizational structure of central planning: U-form in Eastern Europe and M-form in China. The M-form is more flexible because it makes local experiments possible, contrary to the U-form where this would give rise to major complications in coordination.     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article:
Griffith-Jones, Stephany and Zdenek Drabek, Financial Reform in Central and Eastern Europe
Jackson, Marvin and Valentijn Bilsen, Company Management and Capital Market Development in the Transition
Cuba in Transition
Csaba, Laszlo, ed., Privatisation, Liberalisation and Destruction: Recreating the Market in Central and Eastern Europe.
Jernek, Anne, Adjusting State and Market in Vietnam     

Fiscal shocks and budget balance persistence in the EU countries from Central and Eastern Europe

This article analyses the time series properties of the fiscal balance in the 10 EU countries from Central and Eastern Europe. The persistence of the fiscal balance is analysed by means of unit root tests that account for possible nonlinearities and structural changes. The linear and nonlinear unit root tests find only mild evidence in favour of the stationarity hypothesis, with asymmetric effects present in a few cases. After controlling for structural changes in the Data Generation Processes (DGPs), the results point to stationarity of the series. Thus, in spite of relatively steady headline figures, the budget balance processes in the EU countries from Central and Eastern Europe exhibit substantial instability.     

The determinants of service exports from Central and Eastern Europe

The transition economies of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) have become important exporters of many types of services to Western Europe. We identify the sources of CEE’s advantages over competing exporters, such as India, China and Brazil, using disaggregated data on service exports and a novel estimation technique for the gravity equation. Our results indicate that the importance of geographical distance varies substantially across types of service exports. Geography is important for exports of construction services, but it has a negligible impact on computer‐related services. However, the relative quality of legal institutions influences trade across a broad range of service categories. The results demonstrate that aggregating services that are not homogeneous could conceal important differences in the effects of geographical distance and other variables on the pattern of service trade.     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article:
Winters, L. Alan, ed., Foundations of an Open Economy: Trade laws and Institutions for Eastern Europe
Åslund, Anders, ed., Russian-Economic Reform at Risk
Chang, Ha-Joon & Nolan, Peter, eds., The Transformation of the Communist Economies. Against the Mainstream
Faini, Riccardo & Portes, Richard, eds., European Union Trade with Eastern Europe: Adjustment and Opportunities
Howell, John, Understanding Eastern Europe: The Context of Change
Csaba, László, The Capitalist Revolution in Eastern Europe. A Contribution to the Economic Theory of Systemic Change
Boycko, Maxim, Shleifer, Andrei and Vishny, Robert, Privatizing Russia
Hardt, John P. & Kaufman, Richard R., eds., East-Central European Economies in Transition
Jackson, Marvin, Koltay, Jenö & Biesbrouck, Wouter, eds., Unemployment and Evolving Labour Markets in Central and Eastern Europe
Commander, Simon & Coricelli, Fabrizio, eds., Unemployment, Restructuring and the Labor Market in Eastern Europe and Russia     

Investment in Eastern Europe: The role of multilateral organisations

Director and Chief Economist, Central and Eastern Europe, Asia and Latin America, European Investment Bank.     

Politics and privatization in Central and Eastern Europe

This article examines how government ideology influenced privatization efforts in Central and Eastern Europe after the transition from socialism. We analyse a dataset of privatization indicators covering small‐ and large‐scale industries in 19 transition countries over the period 1990–2007 and introduce a government ideology index. The results suggest that market‐oriented governments promoted the privatization of small‐scale industries more than that of large‐scale ones. In the rapid transition process in the early 1990s, leftist governments stuck to public ownership more strongly than in the following period from the mid‐1990s to 2007. The remarkable differences between leftist and right‐wing governments concerning both the role of government in the economy and the basic elements of political order are in line with developments in OECD countries, and may also hold further implications for transition and democratizing countries outside Central and Eastern Europe.     

Re‐entering Europe: Does European Union candidacy boost foreign direct investment?

This study examines the ability of the Central and Eastern European countries to attract foreign direct investment during the first decade of transition. After considering a model of profit maximizing firms, we undertake an empirical investigation of the factors that determine multinational firms’ location decisions within Europe. We find empirical support for the traditional market size and cost factors. In addition, we examine the effect of key European Union announcements regarding the accession process. Results indicate that the announcements had statistically significant and quantitatively important effects on foreign direct investment in the Central and Eastern European candidate countries.     

Understanding the Transaction Costs of Transition: it's the Culture,Stupid

The process of transition in Central and Eastern Europe from socialism to capitalism is a cultural issue rather than a mere technical one. To support this proposition, economic analysis must explain why and how informal rules affect the results of transition.     

“丝绸之路经济带”沿线国国家风险评级与对策研究

为了使中国企业在“走出去”的过程中合理识别和评估东道国的国家风险，提高国家间投资合作的效率，本文以中资企业对外投资中面临的国家风险为主要研究对象，构建了中国对外直接投资国家风险评价体系。从投入产出角度，运用超效率DEA模型与Malmquist指数相结合的分析方法，从静态与动态的时间角度对2014—2018年“丝绸之路经济带”沿线国家风险进行实证分析。研究发现：从静态层面看，中南亚区域呈现较高的国家风险，我国应加强与东道国联系，重点关注东道国投资环境的变化；欧洲地区特别是中东欧国家更适合中国企业对外投资，合作规模有待进一步扩大；西亚地区投资风险两极分化，我国应密切关注高风险国家投资风险的隐患，并建立相应的补偿机制。从动态层面看，通过Malmquist指数分析可知，研究年份间“丝绸之路经济带”沿线国家风险在逐步改善，国家管理的整体趋势向着良好的方向发展。基于分析结果，本文提出了相关的政策建议。