Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of boxes
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1 The economic factors in the collapse of state socialism and the new international environment, 1973–1989
- 2 Radical transformation and policy mistakes: dramatic economic decline in the early 1990s
- 3 Toward better times: the European Union and its policy of eastward enlargement
- 4 Recuperation and growth: the role of foreign direct investment
- 5 Economic restructuring: transforming main sectors, economic recovery, growth, and weaknesses
- 6 Transformation and social shock
- 7 Lasting changes in the structure of income, employment, welfare institutions, education, and settlement
- 8 Epilogue: the future of catching up in the European “melting pot”
- Bibliography
- Index
5 - Economic restructuring: transforming main sectors, economic recovery, growth, and weaknesses
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of boxes
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1 The economic factors in the collapse of state socialism and the new international environment, 1973–1989
- 2 Radical transformation and policy mistakes: dramatic economic decline in the early 1990s
- 3 Toward better times: the European Union and its policy of eastward enlargement
- 4 Recuperation and growth: the role of foreign direct investment
- 5 Economic restructuring: transforming main sectors, economic recovery, growth, and weaknesses
- 6 Transformation and social shock
- 7 Lasting changes in the structure of income, employment, welfare institutions, education, and settlement
- 8 Epilogue: the future of catching up in the European “melting pot”
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The most important positive consequences of the economic transformation of Central and Eastern Europe were the modernization of the economy, the progress in technological adjustment, and the improvement of long-neglected infrastructure and services. State socialist economic policy had focused on industrialization and the development of strategic heavy industrial branches. The structural policy applied by the Soviet Union from the late 1920s onward became a mandatory “socialist economic policy” for Central and Eastern Europe after World War II, in a period of technological revolution and of a new orientation in the world economy. Obsolete economic structures dominated by old-fashioned, outdated industries and the neglect of services comprised the legacy of state socialism. Deregulation, marketization, privatization, and the inflow of foreign direct investment marked a turning point, and a crucial restructuring took place in the region.
Restructuring the economy: infrastructure and services, the most dynamic sectors
Building up a modern infrastructure and service sector was one of the most urgent tasks in the transformation, and certainly resulted in one of its most positive economic outcomes. After World War II, a transportation revolution created a new transportation infrastructure in modern economies. Road transportation for both freight and passengers became dominant, requiring extensive construction of roads and fuel and service networks for cars and trucks. The transportation system changed with the development of air transportation as well as with the modernization of the nineteenth-century railroads through electrification, dieselization, and development of new, fast-running trains.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- From the Soviet Bloc to the European UnionThe Economic and Social Transformation of Central and Eastern Europe since 1973, pp. 134 - 176Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009