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Edited by Neil J Smelser and Richard Swedberg Princeton University Press: Princeton, New Jersey, 2nd edition, paper, 2005, 736pp.
To explain as fully as possible the paths of post-Communist transition, comparative economists cannot depend entirely on neoclassical economics, or even its extension in 'new institutionalism.' We need to look to complementary disciplines. It seems clear that East-Central Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and China are moving in different directions, and our texts provide little assistance in explaining how and why. I was therefore attracted to the survey article, 'Post-Communist Economic Systems', authored by the excellent Yale sociologists Lawrence P King and Iván Szelényi. Based on about 150 articles (unfortunately only in English), mostly by non-economists who have dealt with post-Communist societies, it provides a persuasive theoretical...