The Art of Reforming Centrally Planned Economies: Comparing China, Poland, and Russia

Abstract

The three reasons for gradualism, (1) agricultural reform should precede industrial reforms, (2) state-owned enterprises (SOEs) can be reformed, and (3) economic liberalization should precede political liberalization, are not generalizable. China′s gradualism is the product of political deadlock over the final form of the economy. China has been most successful in the areas where reforms have been radical and lackluster where reforms have been incremental. The output performance across reforming countries reflected differences mainly in economic structures rather than in policies. China′s growth comes from the movement of surplus agricultural labor into industry, and Poland′s and Russia′s decline come from the closing of noncompetitive enterprises to release factors of production to the new efficient enterprises. J. Comp. Econom., June 1994, 18(3), pp. 000-000. University of California, Davis, California 95616-8617.