The Implementation of Economic Reform in Eastern Europe

Abstract

There is a voluminous literature documenting the successive ‘waves’ of economic reform in Eastern Europe. The most comprehensive appraisal of developments up until the early 1980s can be found in the two edited collections by Höhmann, Kaser, and Thalheim (1975), and Nove et al. (1982). The reforms are generally viewed as falling into two phases: the first during the late 1950s and the second during the 10 years after 1965 (Brus, 1979). The issue of efficiency was a prominent concern in the first ‘wave’, and that of growth in the second. But before we discuss the reform debates, there are three points which should be understood.