Reforming planned economies in an integrating world economy /

This study deals with China, the former Soviet Union, and Central Europe, all three representing economies in various stages of transformation from central planning to the free market system. It provides statistics (mostly in 31 tables) that cover data to the end of 1993. Some tables that aggregate data for three or six Central European countries are of limited usefulness. Major emphasis is on the countries of the former Soviet Union. There is no discussion of the four-country customs union in Central Europe, or of the Central European economic cooperation. Likewise, there is mention but no adequate discussion of the integration of Central Europe with the European Union. The authors do not sufficiently explain the preconditions for substantive integration or relations with different international institutions. Obviously, this is an interim progress report that supplements Nicholas Gianaris's The European Community, Eastern Europe, and Russia (CH, Oct'94), Economic Transformation in Central Europe, ed. by Richard Portes (London, 1993), and the World Bank's China: Foreign Trade Reform (1994). China Business by Christine Genzberger et al. is a practical reference source for trading with that country. The present study helps bring into focus the role of international economic relations in helping or impeding economic transformation. Graduate and up. B. Mieczkowski Ithaca College