Saul Estrin

First published in 1983, French Planning in Theory and Practice (now with a new preface by the authors) provides the first detailed account since the late 1960’s of the French system of economic planning, and its relevance for other market economies. It offers an original and non-technical rationale for planning in a market system and examines the decline in French planning, at a time when the new government was attempting to extend the traditional planning system. The initial theoretical part of the book is primarily addressed to economists. It reviews the literature on indicative planning and argues that it is severely deficient, above all in failing to take account of the implications of uncertainty on private decision-making. These problems have empirical relevance for the French experience, and lead to the proposal for a different form of planning, supplying co-ordination that would not be spontaneously forthcoming in the public or private sectors. The analysis goes beyond the scope of French planning and has policy relevance for all market economies. Although written with the main analytic issues in mind, the reminder of the book stands independently as a comprehensive study of planning in France. It traces the gradual loosening of the links between policy making and planning in France and tries to draw the lessons from this experience for the practice of planning. The authors conclude that the type of planning that had seemed so successful in the 1960’s was simply no longer possible in the economic and political climate of the 1970’s, yet no real attempt was made to define an alternative role for the plan. The political and administrative authorities were happy to see planning fade. The arrival of the Socialist government offered great scope for the revival of the process, but the authors caution against supposing that political will was the only vital ingredient. The book is based on extensive interviews with planners, analysts, and decision-makers as well as on published and unpublished written and statistical sources.

A central feature of modern Asia that trumps differences in economic and political systems is the web of close relationships running between and within business and politics; the connections world. These networks facilitate highly transactional interactions yielding significant reciprocal benefits. Although the connections world has not as yet seriously impeded Asia's economic renaissance, it comes with significant costs and fallibilities. These include the creation and entrenchment of huge market power and the attenuation of competition. They in turn hold back the growth in productivity and innovation that will be essential for further development. The connections world also breeds massive inequalities that may culminate in political instability. The authors argue that if Asia's claim to the 21st century is not to be derailed, major changes must be made to policy and behaviour so as to cut away the foundations of the connections world and promote more sustainable economic and political systems.

A central feature of modern Asia that trumps differences in economic and political systems is the web of close relationships running between and within business and politics; the connections world. These networks facilitate highly transactional interactions yielding significant reciprocal benefits. Although the connections world has not as yet seriously impeded Asia's economic renaissance, it comes with significant costs and fallibilities. These include the creation and entrenchment of huge market power and the attenuation of competition. They in turn hold back the growth in productivity and innovation that will be essential for further development. The connections world also breeds massive inequalities that may culminate in political instability. The authors argue that if Asia's claim to the 21st century is not to be derailed, major changes must be made to policy and behaviour so as to cut away the foundations of the connections world and promote more sustainable economic and political systems.

This new edition builds a comprehensive picture of the microeconomic tools required to solve a wide range of problems by using an innovative combination of written, illustrative and mathematical analysis. It helps the reader to think like an economist - in particular demonstrating how individuals, firms and policy-makers decide their best course of action.

The subject of self-management - of companies in which the decisions are made by the work force rather than by the managers or owners - has long been of interest both to economists and to a wider audience. In this 1984 book Saul Estrin offers a comprehensive survey of how workers' self-management has influenced industrial structure and the allocation of resources in Yugoslavia, where a system of this type has operated since the 1950s. The book will interest economists concerned with the likely impact of workers' participation as well as specialists in self-management theory and the operation of the Yugoslav economy.

This work presents twelve case studies of foreign direct investment in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, and Slovenia. The studies include major firms such as Skoda and Danone, as well as smaller ventures, and cover the same sectors for each country, thereby permitting useful comparisons and assessments of: the role of country, sector, technology, and firm-specific characteristics in determining the pattern and nature of foreign direct investment; the potential implications of FDI for the competitiveness of the investing firms; the impact of infusions of capital investments, technology, and managerial resources for the host economies; and the policy implications for host countries and relevant international institutions.

This volume presents cases from a World Bank study of state-owned industrial firms in Poland, Hungary and the Czech and Slovak republics. Topics that are covered include: structure of the industry; history of the firm; and product mix and sales pattern.

Intellectual advances in economics often come from debates that have been long forgotten but which offer context, depth and clarity to contemporary study. Essential Readings in Economics makes available in a single volume some of the seminal papers in the areas of microeconomics and macroeconomics for intermediate courses in economic principles. The readings are organised in two groups: Microeconomics and Macroeconomics. Part 1 looks at topics ranging from 'The Theory of Demand' and 'The Firm and Supply' to 'The Economics of Uncertainty and Information'. In Part 2 the wide ranging debates over the last 55 years are illustrated with contributions from Keynes, Friedman, Phillips and other leading Economists. This vigorous and accessible collection of readings is intended to supplement and extend the understanding students could obtain from conventional introductory textbooks.