The New Eastern Europe and the world economy /

Brabant, a well-known and respected economist, is Principal Economic Affairs Officer of the Department of Economic and Social Development of the UN Secretariat. In addition to editing the volume he contributes three of the book's nine chapters, seeking to position the PETS (planned economies in transition) in the global economic context. His concentration is on economic unions and multilateral economic organizations. Ben Slay's chapter on the political economy of external transformation is particularly useful in examining the steps necessary to transform the foreign trade mechanism in various PETs into "something better able to maximize gains from trade based on specialization according to comparative advantage." Harriet Matejka examines trade and payment arrangements in the PETS, while Joseph Smolik and Miklos Losoncz look at Western assistance for the transition. Wladimir Andreff is concerned with transferring the West's experience to the East, while Giovanni Graziani concentrates on PET specialization and access to EC markets. Compare with The Emergence of Market Economies in Eastern Europe, ed. by Christopher Clague and Gorden Rausser (CH, Jul'92), and Andr'as K"oves, Central and Eastern European Economies in Transition (CH, May'93). Advanced undergraduate through professional. B. B. Brown Jr.; Southern Oregon State College