Book Review: Paul Hare, Judy Batt, and Saul Estrin (eds.), Reconstituting the Market: The Political Economy of Microeconomic Transformation (Amsterdam: Harwood Academic Publishers, 1999, 402 pp., £20.00 pbk.)
| Date | 01 December 2000 |
| Author | Stuart Shields |
| DOI | 10.1177/03058298000290030917 |
| Published date | 01 December 2000 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Millennium
956
Paul Hare, Judy Batt, and Saul Estrin (eds.), Reconstituting the Market: The
Political Economy of Microeconomic Transformation (Amsterdam: Harwood
Academic Publ ishers, 1999, 402 pp., £20.00 pbk.).
As we migh t expect from a volume edited by three of the leadin g authoritie s on
post-commun ist transformatio n, this is a stimu lating contribution to the literatu re on
change occurring in the regi on. Reconstituting the Market investigates the
relationship between two issues in this process: state building and microeconomic
change. T he initial p remise for th e book is to disting uish between new and
established states assuming that transition will be less su ccessful in newly
established states. However, as this coll ection illustrates, al l transition state s are to
some degree ‘new’.
Edited volumes often display a degree of unevenness and heterogeneity, both in
focus and in the quality of contrib ution. This is certainly not th e case here. This is a
well-organise d co llection of essays. Introducing seven teen substantive chapters,
Hare, Batt, Cave, and Estrin p rovide a good summary of the main arguments,
discussing t he institutiona l frame work to accommodate succe ssful change, the
creation of new economic institutions capable of conceiving, developing and
implementi ng reforms, and the imp act of resur gent national ism on economi c
strategies and po licy choices.
Part one highlights conceptual issues. Batt and Wolczuk address the
constituti onal problems post-communist states fac e in defining their poli tical
community and how amelioration might be possible through institutional balance
between legislative and executive . Cave discu sses issues arising from the con flict
between rapid investment and incumbent monopolies in telecoms regulation, while
Heinz’ chapter exami nes t he c hallenge of competition law for the region from
European integration.
Part two deals with Central Europe . Nuti focu ses on em ployee ownership in
Polish privatisation. Canning and Hare investigate Hungary’s evolutionary
privatisatio n proce ss, in part icular th e imp act o f t he reg ulatory regime. Takla’s
chapter contrasts th e debates and imple mentation of v arious methods of
privatisatio n in the Czech Republic, co ncluding that private se ctor growth is d ue to
new rather than old enterprises. Stern desc ribes t he co ntrasting macroeconomic
success and microeconomic failure in Slovakia while J urzyca analyses the role that
competition plays in the Slovak economy.
In part three, emphasis is on the B altic Republics. Th is includes Purju ’s anal ysis
of Eston ian privatisation, an e xceptionally detailed chapter by Davis on constraints
and progress in Latvian p ublic uti lity regula tion and Morkunait e’s discussion of
Lithuania n voucher pri vatisation. Part four is particularly important considerin g the
original materi al included. Jones rep orts the results of a survey on privati sation and
restructuring in St Petersburg. Leshc henko a nd Revenko offer the first detailed
analysis of Ukrainian macroeconomic change; Clark investigates competition
policy and price regulation, while Rosevear discusses enterprise restructuring in
Ukraine. T he final chapte r in this sectio n turns to un der-researched Moldo va. Batt,
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