The economic transformation of Eastern Europe: the case of Poland

This article identifies the main features of Poland's radical transition to capitalism-stabilization program, trade liberalization, and privatization reform. The shock therapy adopted by Poland in 1991 is presented as the most effective approach, though not without political risk. In fact, the major threat to Poland's transition process is the emergence of well organized interest groups putting increasing demand on the government to relax financial restrictions and re-open large-scale subsidization. These political pressures have already caused a slowdown in the privatization program, so that there is a possibility of the renewal of rapid inflation. Several methods for accelerated privatization, including the distribution of vouchers and setting up investment funds to manage portfolios of shares, are discussed in detail.     

Poland's Economic Reform: Myth or Reality?

Repeated attempts to salvage Poland's wrecked economy by introducing market-based reforms and more autonomy for enterprises have been constantly thwarted by the bureaucracy with a vested interest in the status quo. Party officials are unwilling to relinquish their control over supposedly autonomous managers. Poland seems doomed to continued poverty unless it rejects centralised control.     

Non-wage benefits,corporate ownership and firm performance in post-communist economies: evidence from Ukraine

The economic reforms in the transition economies of Central and Eastern Europe have fundamentally reshaped ownership and governance of economic production, notably through the privatization of former state-owned enterprises. These reforms were expected to transform management practices by displacing ‘cradle-to-grave’ welfare arrangements administered by state-owned enterprises. Using data drawn from two large samples of Ukrainian establishments, we investigate, in two different time points, the relationship between non-wage benefits and firm performance during the period of transition to a market economy (1994–2004). We found that non-wage benefits continued to be a critical feature of HRM practices in Ukraine during this period, and were positively associated with firm performance.     

国有企业民营化的环境影响研究

十九大提出要深化国有企业改革,加快发展混合所有制经济。基于2007—2015年我国A股上市公司数据,从企业环境表现的视角研究国有企业进行民营化改革的非经济性后果。研究发现,国有企业民营化后,企业的环境表现会有所下降,但这种现象只在政府环保补贴少的企业和环境监管力度弱的地区中存在。上述研究从环境表现的视角提供了国有企业民营化改革后果的经验证据,对丰富国有企业民营化改革的认识、更好地完善民营化企业的环境治理具有借鉴意义。     

PRIVATIZATION AND EFFICIENCY: FROM PRINCIPALS AND AGENTS TO POLITICAL ECONOMY

Abstract.  We survey the theoretical literature on privatization and efficiency by tracing its evolution from the applications of agency theory to recent contributions in the field of political economy. The former extend the theory of regulation with incomplete information to address privatization issues, comparing state-owned enterprises with private regulated firms. The benefits of privatization may derive either from the constraints it places on malevolent agents or from the impossibility of commitment by a benevolent government because of incomplete contracts. Contributions dealing with political economy issues separate privatization from restructuring decisions. They either explore bargaining between managers and politicians or analyse the impact of privatization shaped by political preferences on efficiency. The theoretical results regarding the relation between privatization and efficiency do not lead to any definitive conclusion. Privatization may increase productive efficiency when restructuring takes place whereas its effects on allocative efficiency still remain uncertain.     

Does divestment matter for firm performance?: Evidence from the Indian experience

We employ data on federal government-owned public enterprises since the 1980s that encompass the partial privatization program to examine its impact on a gamut of performance measures. The analysis indicates that fully government-owned firms are significantly less profitable than partially privatized ones. The evidence also indicates that while the improvements in profitability largely occur during the one to three years just before privatization, the progress in terms of leverage and employment are typically spread out over a much longer period. Finally, the results indicate that the auction method of privatization maximizes government revenues, after controlling for the state of economic activity and other macroeconomic factors.     

From plan to market: financial statements and economic transition in the East German enterprise

This article examines the changing role of financial accounting in the former East Germany as that country underwent the transition from a centrally planned to a market-driven economy. The German government's insistence on a sales model of privatization in preference to some form of mass privatization, combined with legal requirements to make up equity shortfalls in eastern German enterprises, resulted in a highly centralized and interventionist approach to accounting change. The article reviews and analyses the historical, technical, economic and political aspects of this change process.     

The Auction Price of Apartments in Moscow: Hedonic Estimation in Disequilibrium1

The purpose of this paper is to see how economic factors determine prices in the previously communist countries undergoing privatization. This does not concern the auctions of big state enterprises where the prices are found to be rigged. In this paper we estimate hedonic price functions based on a unique data set on auction prices of apartments in Moscow. We collected the data ourselves by attending the auctions and gathered data on the characteristics. We estimated the hedonic equations using a disequilibrium approach because no equilibrium prices were observed for large number of apartments that were withdrawn from the auction. We found that, as the privatization of residential housing was carried out, the hedonic price equations fit the data remarkably well.     

台湾公营事业民营化的发展及其对大陆的启示

台湾自1953年公布"公营事业移转民营条例"正式推动民营化政策至今,其历史已超过50年,文章从民营化法令修订更迭历程分析其趋势,发现台湾公营事业民营化的政策朝加强员工权益保障、容许部分民营化、重视公股管理等趋向发展,据此对大陆公营事业民营化政策推动提出5项启示供参考。     

国有经济战略性调整与深化国有企业改革

国有经济在建设中国特色社会主义和提高中国国际竞争力中具有不可替代的地位和作用。在新的历史时期,必须深入推进国有经济战略性调整和国有企业改革,进一步改革完善国有资产管理体制,转变企业发展方式,使国有企业真正发挥其独特的作用。     

浅析企事业单位人事档案制度的创新与发展

随着我国社会经济的不断发展,市场经济的不断深化和改革,企事业单位的人事档案制度和人事档案管理已无法适应市场经济发展需要的人才需求。因此,企事业单位必须积极创新和发展其人事档案制度,推动其朝着专业化、信息化、法制化方向发展,以不断适应社会经济发展的需求,积极发挥其应有作用。     

Poland: the reform of the pension system

The paper presents the system of social security provision introduced in Poland after World War II and discusses the demographic, political and economic reasons for its failure, as well as its impact on the Polish economy. The proposed reform scenarios from two major political proponents, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, are described. The recently finalised reform proposal is now being introduced, starting with the Polish Parliament (Sejm) passing a package of three acts concerning the split of the current pay-as-you-go single system into a pillar system, with provisions made for a transition period. The paper outlines the proposed changes, including the new role of the Social Security Institution (ZUS) in Poland, the structure of the first pillar of benefits and the opportunities for private companies to participate in the social security provision through the second and third pillars.     

企业实施绿色物流的意义和措施

面临全球化的压力和驱动力的双重挑战,中国企业必须将其经营战略和环境保护有机的联系起来．构架起通往经济、物流与环境共生的桥梁。绿色物流是经济可持续发展的必然结果,对社会经济的不断发展和人类生活质量的提高有重要意义。本文首先从适应国际“绿色革命”浪潮出发．引出了绿色物流的内涵．探讨了其对企业的价值．并探计了企业实施绿色物流管理以加强企业核心竞争力的措施。     

Agents, Stakeholders and Corporate Governance in Russian Firms

This paper considers some developments within Russian privatized industrial firms 1992–94 through the lens of Stakeholder-Agency Theory (SAT). Although it has its own shortcomings and weaknesses, SAT, unlike the traditional financial version of Agency Theory, at least contemplates the possibility of a transitional period during which enterprise governance structures can evolve. It is by now widely recognised that in the middle of deep economic crisis, the Russian economy is too volatile for longitudinal studies of formally structured samples of firms over a period of time. In any case, SAT is at a stage of development that has not yet yielded detailed predictions for scientific testing. Yet surveys of recently privatized firms in Russia do provide empirical data away from the origins of SAT, and it is argued that this fresh data suggests new research propositions that can hopefully lead to more theoretical refinement and ultimately testing. At the very least, SAT can be used as a heuristic device, capable of providing a way of looking at complex Russian developments in a structured way. A process of Russian privatization through management–employee buy-outs involving giveaway distributions of shares has secured the compliance of the two main groups of enterprise stakeholders who could have prevented the withdrawal of the State from the governance of industrial enterprises, but has not yet produced a form of corporate governance structure that is likely to survive in the long term without State protection. In the longer term, international competitiveness can only be secured in Russia through investment in new products and processes, and the inadequacies of managers and other employees as sources of investable funds mean that incumbents must generate a more welcoming climate for outside investors. Even after such a short period since privatization and in the middle of a deep economic crisis, some enterprises are already favouring more efficient governance structures in a way consistent with SAT.     

Rewriting China’s Recent History: Fluctuations in State Economic Control, 1949–1984

China's political and economic systems are often discussed in combination. It is generally believed that under the political system of centralization, the economic system had to be a state monopoly. This article challenges that view by providing an economic perspective. The period 1949–1984 is selected to explore the causes of successive periods of strengthening and weakening of the state's monopoly power over the economy. Scholars have generally assumed that the period of state monopoly originated from socialist ideology or the personal will of the leaders. But economic conditions severely limited the options available. After the new China was established, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) did not try to create a fully socialist economy in the short run. Instead, the CCP formulated a New Democracy platform that pragmatically allowed many types of enterprise to function side by side, including private industry, household ventures, and state‐owned enterprises. The original plan of the CCP was to allow private enterprise to develop in order to build up capital to rebuild the war‐damaged economy so that a strong foundation could be established for creating a socialist economy. But the Korean War from 1950 to 1953 and an influx of Soviet capital caused a shift from a mixed economy to state capitalism by 1956. From that point on, Mao Zedong and other Chinese leaders had to change course again and again as fiscal crises limited available options. A reversal occurred in 1958 when the Soviets withdrew both their advisors and their capital subsidies, leaving the state capitalist system weakened. The crisis in the Chinese economy from 1959 to 1961 required decentralization of economic authority and efforts to promote rural capital formation. The next shift occurred after 1963 as the economy was organized to prepare for a possible military invasion. The required mobilization of industrial resources in remote regions of China inevitably reinforced state management of the economy. The final reversal occurred in the late 1970s, when imports of Western technology and equipment created another fiscal crisis for the central government, which then had to shift the burden of capital formation from the state to private entities. The reform of the rural household contract system, the adjustment of economic structures, and an increase in exports to gain foreign exchange all took place as part of “de‐monopolization” reforms. The reforms that occurred after 1979 were not an aberration or a radical break from the past. They were part of a pattern that evolved from 1949 to 1984, with fluctuations dependent on the weakening and strengthening status of state finances. The shifts that occurred during this period have either been ignored by observers, or they have been misinterpreted as being motivated by ideology. In fact, new policies were created to enable the government to adjust to changes in the internal and external environment.     

广西高新技术企业培育现状及对策研究

高新技术企业的发展对于促进科技与经济的结合,推动高新技术产业发展,转变经济增长方式,实现经济又好又快发展具有重要的意义。文章分析了广西高新技术企业培育现状及存在的问题,并在此基础上提出了相应的对策建议。     

循环经济：与自然和谐的经济发展模式

循环经济是通过将经济活动按照自然生态系统的模式,组成"资源-产品-再生资源"的物质反馈式循环过程,使经济活动对自然环境的影响降低到最小程度,在物质不断循环的基础上实现资源的最大化利用,促进社会经济的可持续发展.发展循环经济是人类社会发展的必然选择.在我国高速的经济增长中,资源短缺和环境污染的问题非常严重,因而发展循环经济具有重要意义.发展循环经济是一项涉及各行各业、千家万户的事业,需要政府、企业和社会各界的共同努力,增强全社会的资源忧患意识和节约资源、保护环境的责任意识,构建资源节约型、环境友好型社会.     

Poles' evaluation of the benefits of the Polish economic transformation: A rectification of the misleading of Jeffrey Sachs

In his protracted dispute with Jan Adam over the early benefits of the Polish shock therapy approach to economic reform, a key, and still intact, component of Jeffrey Sachs' case has been a relatively favourable 1991 opinion poll about Poles' perceptions of the benefits of economic reform. This reported that a substantial majority of Poles felt their standard of living had improved as a result of the first two years of economic reform. This was an apparently powerful argument in favour of Poland's particular shock therapy approach to economic reform, as residents of other East European countries, some subject to more gradualist reforms, responded much less positively to the identical question put as part of the same research programme. However, the cited result should be seen as posing a mystery that is at odds with other monthly polls in Poland and seems incompatible with the results of the 1991 Polish Parliamentary elections, which showed a return of support to post-communist parties. A deeper analysis of opinion polls which follows solves the mystery, when it is shown how the cited result was in error and was published in a form diametrically opposite to the true result.     

广西高新技术企业培育现状及对策研究

高新技术企业的发展对于促进科技与经济的结合,推动高新技术产业发展,转变经济增长方式,实现经济又好又快发展具有重要的意义。文章分析了广西高新技术企业培育现状及存在的问题,并在此基础上提出了相应的对策建议。     

企业内部监督与管理融合的策略

随着社会主义市场经济的发展,企业的经济结构、经营方式和利益分配等方面发生了重大变化。如何使企业加强自我约束,规范经营行为,经受住市场经济的考验,是当前和今后一个时期需要认真研究和解决的重要课题。本文认为,要强化企业自我约束机制,保证企业科学健康可持续发展,必须拓宽监督视野,在企业监督制度、监督领域和监督格局上实现"三个转变",并与企业管理融合,才能促进企业廉洁经营与优质高效发展的统一。