Jan Winiecki Boeken

Focusing on the political economy, this collection of articles and essays examines the reforms and transformations in Eastern Europe during Gorbachev's perestroika and the aftermath of the Berlin Wall's fall and the Soviet Union's collapse. It provides insights into the socio-economic shifts and challenges faced by the region during a pivotal historical period, offering a comprehensive analysis of the complexities involved in the transition to new political and economic systems.

The book offers a critical analysis of the economies of the former Soviet bloc, emphasizing the gap between individual behaviors in Soviet-style economies and typical market system expectations. It explores how this discordance leads to significant economic distortions, highlighting the author's unique expertise in both Western and Eastern sources. This innovative work challenges conventional economic theories by examining the practical implications of microeconomic actions versus macroeconomic planning.

Focusing on the collapse of political and economic structures in Eastern European communist nations, the author analyzes the factors contributing to this crisis. Instead of merely documenting events, the book delves into the underlying reasons for the failures and explores potential alternative policies that could address these systemic issues. Through this examination, it offers insights into the complexities of reforming such entrenched systems.

Alternative strategies of economic development have received little attention in the literature. Academics rarely compare certain strategic features or assess the performance of different strategies in terms of outcomes. This book seeks to address that gap and to provide a theoretical background to the shift from industry to human capital-intensive services as the engine of economic growth. Pioneering studies reveal interesting trends and patterns that point to the growing importance of intangible capital for the level of GDP. They also indicate a much greater role of economic freedom in bringing about this second great structural change than was the case with industrialization. With this perspective on structural change and the role of freedom, Shortcut or Piecemeal also provides an extensive assessment of four key developing countries: Brazil, Russia, India, and China. Subjects: 1. Central planning—History. 2. Economic development—History

These memoirs portray an individual coping with the adversities and surrealistic qualities of life and work under communism. The author recollects his adolescence, next, how he tried to avoid head-on conflicts, dissented, and how he finally became a known critic of the system. As such, he belonged to a group of advisers to the underground «Solidarity» leadership. His memoirs help to understand the collapse of the communist system and the stormy period of systemic change from a personal perspective. The author participated in these changes as an already well known Sovietologist, as well as through his own on- and off involvements in post-communist transition politics, participating in various advisory bodies (including that advising President Walesa).