This paper seeks to explain the continuing lack of economic convergence and the persistence of market dysfunctionality, or wild capitalism, in post-communist transformation. An overview of key statistics on economic convergence and market failure are presented. The paper then analyses the causes of malaise through the lens of institutionalist and radical perspectives. In doing so key data are assembled and presented from documents of the international financial institutions and other agencies monitoring crime and corruption. The paper concludes that, rather than encourage convergence and tame dysfunctionality, neoliberalism and its offspring of labour market reform have created the conditions for continuing economic divergence and for wild capitalism to survive and thrive.
AntonicD.BabovicB.BegovicB.HiberD.IvonevicZ.KavranD.MijatovicB.StojanovicB.VacicZ.VasovicM. and VukovicS. (undated). Corruption in Serbia.Belgrade: Center for Liberal Democratic Studies.
2.
AshmanS.2009. Capitalism, Uneven and Combined Development and the Transhistoric. Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 22(1): 29–46.
3.
ÅslundA.2001. The Myth of Output Collapse After Communism. Working Article No. 18. Washington, DC. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
4.
BarkerC.2006. Beyond Trotsky: Extending Combined and Uneven Development. In: DunnB. & RadiceH., eds. 100 Years of Permanent Revolution.London: Pluto, pp. 72–87.
5.
BlanchardO. & KremerM.1997. Disorganisation. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 112(4): 1091–126.
6.
BegovicB.2005. Corruption in Serbia: causes and remedies, Ann Arbor, Mich: William Davidson Institute.
7.
BoeriT. & GaribaldiP.2006. Are Labour Markets in the New Member States Sufficiently Flexible for EMU?Journal of Banking and Finance, 30(5): 1393–407.
8.
BohleD.2006. Neoliberal Hegemony, Transnational Capital and the Terms of the EU's Eastward Expansion. Capital & Class, 88: 56–86.
9.
BohleD. & GreskovitsB.2007. The State, Internationalization, and Capitalist Diversity in Eastern Europe. Competition and Change, 11: 89–115.
10.
BuchenC.2007. East European Antipodes: Varieties of Capitalism in Estonia and Slovenia. In: LaneD. & MyantM., eds. Varieties of Capitalism in Post-Communist Countries.London: Palgrave Macmillan.
11.
BurawoyM.1985. The Politics of Production: Factory Regimes under Capitalism and Socialism.London: Verso.
12.
ClarkeS.2002. Making Ends Meet in Contemporary Russia: Secondary Employment, Subsidiary Agriculture and Social Networks.Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
13.
DaleG. ed. 2011. First the Transition, Then the Crash: Eastern Europe in the 2000s.London: Pluto.
14.
DasR.2006. Putting Social Capital in its Place. Capital & Class, 90: 65–92.
15.
DavidsonN.2010. From Deflected Permanent Revolution to the Law of Uneven and Combined Development. International Socialism, 128: 167–202.
16.
DunfordM. & SmithA.2004. Economic Restructuring and Employment Change. In: BradshawM. & StenningA., eds. East Central Europe and the Former Soviet Union.Harlow: Pearson, pp. 33–58.
17.
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). 2010. Recovery and Reform, Transition Report 2010.London: EBRD.
18.
FilatovA.1994. Unethical Business Behavior in Post-Communist Russia: Origins and Trends. Business Ethics Quarterly, 4(1): 165–80.
19.
FortezaA. & RamaM.2001. Labour Market ‘Rigidity’ and the Success of Economic Reforms Across More Than One Hundred Countries. World Bank Working Articles — Governance, No. 2521. Washington, DC: World Bank.
20.
FukuyamaF.1999. Social Capital and Civil Society. Article presented to the IMF Conference on Second Generation Reforms, George Mason University. 1st October. [accessed 3 March 2010]. Available at: <www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/seminar/1999/reforms/fukuyama.htm#II>.
21.
GligorovV.PöschlJ., & RichterS.2009. Where Have All the Shooting Stars Gone?Vienna: The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, Current Analyses and Forecasts 4.
22.
GosztonyiK. and BrayJ.2009. Business, Corruption and Economic Crime in Central and South-East Europe. Control Risks.London, 3.
23.
GowanP.1995. Neoliberal Theory and Practice for Eastern Europe. New Left Review, 213: 3–60.
24.
GustafsonG.1999. Capitalism Russian Style.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
25.
HabermasJ.1987. Lifeworld and System: A Critique of Functionalist Reason. Vol. 2 of The Theory of Communicative Action, trans. by McCarthyT.Boston, MA: Beacon Press (originally published in German in 1981).
26.
HardyJ.2009. Poland's New Capitalism.London: Pluto Press.
HarperK.2006. Wild Capitalism: Environmental Activists and Post-Socialist Ecology in Hungary.Boulder, CO: East European Monographs.
29.
HarveyD.2003. The New Imperialism.Oxford: Oxford University Press.
30.
HavrylyshynO. and Odling-SmeeJ.2000. Political Economy of Stalled Reforms. Finance & Development, 37(3): 7–11.
31.
HazansM.2011. Informal Work Across Europe: Evidence from 30 Countries.IZA Discussion Article No. 5871, Bonn: IZA.
32.
HellmanJ.JonesG., & KaufmanD.2000. Seize the State, Seize the Day: An Empirical Analysis of State Capture, Corruption and Influence in Transition. World Bank Policy Research Article No. 2444. Washington, DC: World Bank.
33.
HellmanJ. and KaufmannD.2001. Confronting the Challenge of State Capture in Transition Economies. Finance and Development: Quarterly Magazine of the IMF, 38: 3. [accessed 2 March 2012]. Available at: <www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2001/09/hellman.htm>.
34.
HowardM.2003. The Weakness of Civil Society in Post-Communist Europe.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
35.
International Monetary Fund (IMF).2000. Transition Economies: An IMF Perspective on Progress and Prospects. Issue Brief 00/08, November [online]. [accessed 2 March 2012]. Available at: <www.imf.org/external/np/exr/ib/2000/110300.htm#III>.
36.
International Monetary Fund (IMF).2006. Operational Guidance to IMF Staff on the 2002 Conditionality Guidelines.Washington, DC: IMF.
37.
JainA.2001. Corruption: A Review. Journal of Economic Surveys, 15(4): 71–121.
38.
JohnsonS.KaufmannD., & ShleiferA.1997. The Unofficial Economy in Transition. Brookings Articles on Economic Activity, Fall. Washington, DC: Brookings Institute.
39.
KaufmannD.KraayA. and MassimoM.2009. Governance Matters VII: Aggregrate and individual governance indicators 1996–2008. Policy Research Working Paper 4978, Washington DC: World Bank.
40.
KlimanA.2011. The Failure of Capitalist Production: Underlying Causes of the Great Recession.London: Pluto Press.
41.
Lane BrunerM.2002. Taming ‘Wild’ Capitalism. Discourse and Society, 13(2): 167–84.
42.
La PortaR.Lopez-de-SilanesF.ShleiferA., & VishnyR.1999. The Quality of Government. Journal of Law, Economics, and Organizations, 15(1): 222–79.
43.
LucasR.1990. Why Doesn't Capital Flow from Rich to Poor Countries?The American Economic Review, 80(2): 92–96.
44.
MarxK.1867. Capital, Volume 1. (1976) New York: Penguin.
45.
MosseD.2004: Power Relations and Poverty Reduction. In: AlsopR., ed. Power, Rights and Poverty: Concepts and Connections.London: DFID/World Bank, pp. 51–67.
46.
NelsonN. and WrightS.1994. Power and Participation.London: Intermediate Technology Publications.
47.
NielsenK.JessopB., & HausnerJ.1995. Institutional Change in Post-Socialism. In: HausnerJ.JessopB., & NielsenK., eds. Strategic Choice and Path Dependency in Post Socialism.Aldershot: Edward Elgar, pp. 3–45.
OnaranÖ.2008. Jobless Growth in the Central and Eastern European Countries: A Country Specific Panel Data Analysis for the Manufacturing Industry. Eastern European Economics, 46(4): 97–122.
50.
OnaranÖ.2010. From Transition Crisis to the Global Crisis: Labour in the Central and Eastern EU New Member States. Discussion Article Number 135. Department of Economics and Statistics, Middlesex University Business School, Hendon, London NW4 4BT.
51.
PeevE.2002. Ownership and Control Structures in Transition to ‘Crony Capitalism’: The Case of Bulgaria. Eastern European Economics, 40(5): 73–91.
52.
PesićV.2007. State Capture and Widespread Corruption in Serbia. CEPS Working Document, 262. Brussels: Centre for European Policy Studies.
53.
RolandG. and VerdierT.1999. Transition and the Output Fall. Economics of Transition, 7(1): 1–28.
54.
RosenbergJ.2006. Why is There No International Historical Sociology?European Journal of International Relations, 12(3): 307–40.
55.
RoundJ.WilliamsC., & RodgersP.2008. Corruption in the Post-Soviet Workplace: The Experiences of Recent Graduates in Contemporary Ukraine. Work, Employment and Society, 22(1): 149–66.
56.
SchneiderF.2003. The Size and Development of the Shadow Economies and Shadow Economy Labor Force of 22 Transition and 21 OECD Countries: What Do We Really Know? In: BelevB., ed. The Informal Economy in the EU Accession Countries.Sofia: Centre for the Study of Democracy.
57.
ShieldsS.2008. How the East was Won: Transnational Social Forces and the Neoliberalisation of Poland's Post-Communist Transition. Global Society, 22(4): 445–68.
58.
SommersJ. and BērziņšJ.2011. Twenty Years Lost: Latvia's Failed Development in the Post Soviet World. In: DaleG., ed. First the Transition, Then the Crash.London: Pluto, pp. 119–42.
59.
StiglitzJ.1999. Whither Reform? Ten Years of the Transition. Keynote address to the World Bank's Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics, April. [accessed 2 March 2012]. Available at: <www.imf.org/external/np/exr/ib/2000/110300.htm>.
60.
Transparency International.2009. OECD Anti Bribery Convention: Progress Report.Berlin: Transparency International.
61.
TreismanD.2000. The Causes of Corruption: A Cross National Study. Journal of Public Economics, 76(3): 399–457.
62.
TrotskyL.1977 [1932]. History of the Russian Revolution.London: Pluto.
63.
TurleyG. and LukeP.2011. Transition Economics: Two Decades On.London: Routledge.
64.
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). 2007. The Fight Against Corruption in Serbia: An Institutional Framework Overview.Geneva: UNDP.
65.
UpchurchM.2009. The IFIs and Labour Reform in Post-Communist Economies. Globalizations, 6(2): 297–316.
66.
UpchurchM. & WeltmanD.2008. International Financial Institutions and Post-Communist Labour Reform: A Case of Utopian Liberalism?Debate, 16(3): 309–30.
67.
van der PijlK.1993. Soviet Socialism and Passive Revolution. In: GillS., ed. Gramsci, Historical Materialism and International Relations.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
68.
WilliamsC. and RoundJ.2007. Beyond Negative Depictions of Informal Employment: Some Lessons from Moscow. Urban Studies, 44(12): 2321–38.
69.
WoodsN.2006. The Globalizers: The IMF, the World Bank and Their Borrowers.Ithaca & London: Cornell University Press.
70.
WoolfsonC.2007. Pushing the Envelope: The ‘Informalization’ of Labour in Post-Communist New EU Member States. Work, Employment and Society, 21(3): 551–64.
71.
World Bank.2002a. Transition, The First Ten Years: Analysis and Lessons for Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union.Washington, DC: World Bank.
72.
World Bank.2002b. Unions and Collective Bargaining: Economic Effects in a Global Environment.Washington, DC: World Bank.
73.
World Bank.2008. The Political Economy of Policy Reform: Issues and Implications for Policy Dialogue and Development Operations. Report No. 4428-GLB. Washington, DC: World Bank Social Development Department.
74.
World Bank.2010. Turmoil at Twenty: Recession, Recovery and Reform in Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union.Washington, DC: World Bank.
