PRIVATIZATION IN EASTERN-EUROPE

Economic reform has several main dimensions : macroeconomic adjustment, marketization, restructuring, integration with the world economy, and privatization. All five dimensions have been involved, to some extent, in economic reforms in less developed countries. However, privatization is particularly important in the transformation in Eastern Europe (here, it refers primarily to Hungary, Poland, CSFR. Bulgaria and Romania) from a socialist centrally planned economy to a capitalist regulated market economy. Hence the author focuses on the role of privatization in East European economic reforms. Part I is a theoretical and empirical analysis of principal elements of privatization. Part II examines relationships between privatization and other four dimensions of economic reform. Part III summarizes main findings and makes some comparisons with privatization in other regions.