From Shock to Therapy The Political Economy of Postsocialist Transformation

This is the first comprehensive study of the economics and politics of postsocialism in thirty transition countries in Europe and Asia. The author, the architect of Poland's successful reforms, compares initial conditions, shifting target models, paths to reform, and progress to date. He offers sensible policy alternatives to the Washington Consensus.

The great transformation undertaken by the countries of the former communist bloc exhibits immense diversity–in terms of initial conditions, shifting target models, consistency, paths, speed, progress to date, and economic performance. This is the first comprehensive study of the economics and politics of postsocialism to be written by an author so deeply–and so successfully–involved in the reform process. Many people writing on the reform process offer advice that is not really credible; as a member of the Polish government, and architect of the successful Polish reform, Grzegorz Kolodko actually solved many of the difficulties of transition, which allows him to come forward here with policy proposals and long-term forecasts. The treatment of the transition from plan to market as a historical process is an important feature of the book. The author claims that there is no historical fatality–that sound policies in the present are more determining than the favourable or unfavourable legacies of the past. The aim is to create and maintain the conditions for sustainable growth and durable development.

1 - Transition from socialism: where to?
2 - Different points of departure
3 - Systemic change and economic performance
4 - Transitional recession: expectations, reality, interpretations
5 - The Washington Consensus revisited
6 - Transition policy and development strategy
7 - Transition from plan to market
8 - Financial reform and policy
9 - The redistribution of the costs and benefits of transition
10 - Marketization and democratization
11 - From recovery to sustained growth
12 - The internationalization of postsocialist economies
13 - The long-term prospects
14 - Doubts and conclusions

Kolodko is a university professor (currently of Warsaw and Rochester universities), researcher, consultant to international organizations, former government minister in Poland, and author of numerous books and research papers.