The International Monetary System


Book Description

HANSGENBERG An international monetary system should provide a stable and predictable environment for international trade and investment. At the very least, it should not by itself be a source of disturbances in the world economy, and it should be designed so that policy errors or unforeseen shocks are not unduly transmitted between countries. In this perspective, worldwide integration of goods and financial markets present a particular challenge. Such integration increases the cross-border effects of economic policies at the same time as interlocking payments and financial systems transmit financial disturbances rapidly throughout the world. As the degree of integration and interdependence changes over time, is not a foregone conc1usion that international monetary institutions and mechanisms always remain well adapted to the state of the world economy. Occasional review of the performance of the system as well as proposals for improvements are therefore necessary. The contributions to this volume have l been brought together with this in mind.




Currency Convertibility in Eastern Europe


Book Description

Establishment of convertible currencies is one of the chief goals of economic reform in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. However, convertibility relates closely to the entirety of a country's reform strategy and there are a number of possible paths to its achievement. This study analyzes the issue in the Eastern European context, reviews the history of efforts elsewhere to achieve convertibility and recommends preferred courses of action. In particular, it considers the relative merits of "shock" programmes, including immediate national declarations of convertibility and the more gradual approach adopted by the Western European nations (via regional institutions), and Japan after World War II.







Focus on Transition


Book Description




The Transition in Eastern Europe, Volume 1


Book Description

When communism fell in 1989, the question for most Eastern European countries was not whether to go to a market economy, but how to get there. Several years later, the difficult process of privatization and restructuring continues to concern the countries of the region. The Transition in Eastern Europe, Volumes 1 and 2 is an analysis of the experiences of various countries making the transition to market economies and examines the most important challenges still in store. Volume 1, Country Studies, gives an in-depth, country-by-country analysis of various reform experiences, including historical backgrounds and discussions of policies and results to date. The countries analyzed are Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, eastern Germany, Slovenia, and Russia. Written by leading economists, some of whom helped shape local and national reforms, this volume identifies common progress, common difficulties, and tentative solutions to the problems of economic transition. Volume 2, Restructuring, focuses on specific issues of transition, including how to design labor market institutions, privatization, new fiscal structures, and bankruptcy laws; how to reorganize foreign trade; and how to promote foreign direct investment. The articles, written by experts in the field, will be of direct help to those involved in the transition process. These volumes provide a standard reference on economic transition in the region for policymakers in Eastern Europe and in western countries, for international agencies concerned with the transition process, and for anyone interested in learning about the dramatic changes that have recently occurred in Eastern Europe.







East European Economies


Book Description




Remaking Eastern Europe — On the Political Economy of Transition


Book Description

This compact volume is meant as a modest contribution to the ongoing debate on how to transform in particular the radically reforming Eastern European economies into more productive sociopolitical organizations. Although my main focus here is on the economics of reform and east-west assistance, I have tried to embed the multiple technical aspects of restructuring such a resource alloca tion into the context of remaking Eastern Europe. That the volume coincides with the seminal transformations of the communist countries of Eastern Europe is, of course, not fortuitous. But I shall have much less to say about the politi cal transitions from communism to parliamentary democracy, except the ways in which the latter may bolster or hinder the hoped-for economic mutations. In taking stock of where I stand on the issue of "radical reform" of planned economics in general and the CMEA in particular, both still moving targets, I have benefited greatly from participation in formal and informal conferences on economic reform. The product has also profited from many informal discus sions and exchanges of views among friends and colleagues, including those entrusted with and purely interested in efforts on the overall topic of the study launched from within the broad context of the United Nations, my at times reluctant employer.




Wealth Creation in Eastern Europe


Book Description

Enhance your understanding of the economic impact of rapid political changes in Eastern Europe with the valuable insights in this provocative book. Wealth Creation in Eastern Europe examines the difficulties faced by Eastern European nations converting from economic systems based on public ownership and non-market mechanisms for allocating goods and capital, to systems based on private ownership and reliance on market prices for allocating resources. Authoritative contributors bring to light a variety of perspectives to financial management in this rapidly changing environment. Important topics covered by this useful book include a macroeconomic view of the problems created by German unification, difficulties caused by applying standard valuation models and techniques to Eastern European enterprises, and the reaction of Western financial markets when companies announce joint venture investments in Eastern Europe. Readers will find valuable insights into critical financial concerns in Eastern European countries on such subjects such as the difficulty of ascertaining the value of state enterprises and determining whether their continued existence makes economic sense the problems created by the absence of clear titles to property and business for reorganizing economic activity under private ownership the need for a legal system that recognizes rights by ownership and enforces contract law the difficulties caused by the virtually complete absence of accounting-based information and information systems needed to evaluate organizations’economic efficiency problems encountered when conferring social legitimacy on a capitalist private enterprise system after decades of indoctrination about the evils of capitalism