Overcentralization in Economic Administration: A Critical Analysis Based on Experience in Hungarian Light Industry

Overcentralization in Economic Administration (Oxford, 1959) was the first book written by an Eastern European and published in the West that openly criticized socialist central planning. In this work the distinguished economist János Kornai begins a lifelong study of the economic organization of centrally planned economies. Professor Kornai's aim in this book was to observe the reality of the working socialist system, and to draw conclusions that were not distorted by the laws of Marxist political economy. He provided a lucid and coherent account of conditions, along with normative recommendations which influenced the Hungarian reform process, culminating in the economic changes of 1968. Professor Kornai identified several systematic failures of the centrally planned economy and gave a prescient account of weak economic performance and eventual disintegration. His argument for radical rather than partial change makes this book essential reading for those interested in the economics of transition in Eastern Europe.

Business & Money

Knapp, John

Kornai, János

Economics

Oxford University Press

First published in 1959, Overcentralization in Economic Administration was the first book written by an East European and published in the West that openly criticized socialist central planning. Now reissued with a new preface, this book discusses issues that remain fundamental to any sound analysis of economic organization. Here Janos Kornai began a lifelong study of the economic organization of centrally planned economies. He identified several systemic failures of the centrally planned economy, and gave a prescient account of weak economic performance and eventual disintegration. Kornai's aim was to observe the reality of the working socialist system, and to draw conclusions that were not distorted by the laws of Marxist political economy. He provided a thorough positive analysis of conditions, along with normative recommendations which influenced the Hungarian reform process, culminating in the economic changes of 1968. Kornai's argument for radical rather than partial change makes this book timely and interesting reading for those involved in the economics of transition taking place in Eastern Europe today.

In Dynamism, Rivalry, and the Surplus Economy, J�nos Kornai examines capitalism as an economic system and in comparison to socialism. Kornai explains his view of capitalism as an economy of surplus--a chronic excess of supply of goods and labor. This environment breeds rivalry among producers, which in turn encourages innovation. Socialism, on the other hand, is defined by a shortage of goods and labor and excess of demand. Whereas socialism is slothful and imitative, capitalism is dynamic and progressive. The two essays of this book will explore these differing ideologies on macro and micro levels, ending with definitive explanations of how the systems work and how they develop.

Dynamism, Rivalry, and the Surplus Economy: Two Essays on the Nature of Capitalism

These seven essays by the Eastern block's most important economist address and explore many of the critical social and economic issues inherent in the socialist economy. Published in Hungary in 1983, they are the firsthand observations of an insider who attempts to be as frank and impartial as possible about the experiment in his own country.The essays distinguish the classical or traditional form of a highly centralized socialist economy from a system, like that of Hungary's, that is in the process of institutional reforms. They focus on a few important characteristics of social economies, rather than providing a broad description and analysis of socialist systems, in order to stimulate thinking along comparative lines. The wider problems and issues related to socialist systems that they address will interest sociologists and political scientists, historians, and philosophers as well as economists.Kornai points out that because real modern societies are different from the pure models of capitalism and socialism, combinations and mixtures of socialist and capitalist systems, sellers' and buyers' markets, centralized and decentralized management occur widely and intensively in both socialist and highly developed industrial market economies and in the nonsocialist third world countries in some segments and to a certain degree. Looking at these phenomena comparatively reveals both the deep differences and the similarities and analogies between the systems.The essays are: The Reproduction of Shortage. "Hard" and "Soft" Budget Constraint. Degrees of Paternalism. Economics and Psychology. Comments on the Present State and the Prospects of the Hungarian Economic Reform. Efficiency and the Principles of Socialist Ethics. The Health of Nations.

Contradictions and Dilemmas: Studies on the Socialist Economy and Society (English and Hungarian Edition)

Mit Pr

János Kornai, a distinguished Hungarian economist, began his adult life as an ardent believer in socialism and then became a critic of the communist political and economic system. He lost family members in the Holocaust, contributed to the ideological preparation for the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, and became an influential theorist of the post-Soviet economic transition. He has been a journalist, a researcher prohibited from teaching in his home country, and a tenured professor at Harvard. By Force of Thought traces Kornai's lifelong intellectual journey and offers a subjective complement to his academic research.Disenchanted with communism, Kornai published Overcentralization (1956), the first book written by someone living behind the Iron Curtain to be openly critical of Soviet-style economics. Although it was attacked in Hungary, it was hailed by Western economists. The Kornai-Lipták theory on two-level planning captured the attention of mathematical economists. Kornai went on to publish the controversial Anti-Equilibrium (1971), a critique of the general equilibrium theory underpinning mainstream economic analyses of markets, Economics of Shortage (1980), The Road to a Free Economy (1990), and the summary of his lifetime research, The Socialist System (1992). An intellectual emissary between East and West, Kornai commuted between Harvard and Budapest for many years.Kornai's memoir describes his research--including his present-day evaluation of his past work--as well as the social and political environments in which he did his work. The difficulties faced by a critic of central planning in a communist country are made especially vivid by material from newly opened secret police files and informers' reports on his activities. By Force of Thought will be an essential resource for students of economic thought, socialist systems, and postsocialist transition, and for readers interested in Eastern European intellectual life before, during, and after communism.

By Force of Thought: Irregular Memoirs of an Intellectual Journey

Biographies & Memoirs

Professionals & Academics

Hungarian economist János Kornai first used the metaphor of a single path to postsocialist transition in his earlier book,  The Road to a Free Economy. The new metaphor that frames this collection of recent studies reflects a broader perspective and understanding of the complexities of transition: every highway and byway leads eventually to capitalism, Kornai observes, but to what kind, how fast, and at what cost? Who wins and who loses?Kornai draws from his experiences of Hungarian reform as well as from countries of the former Soviet Union to make several major points. The first three studies describe what went wrong in countries that tried to mix elements of planned and market economies. Efforts made by communist countries to introduce market socialism (the "middle road") contained an inherent contradiction between the logic of socialism and the logic of a free enterprise system, and were doomed to failure. In the studies that follow, Kornai analyzes the ongoing dilemmas. The transition from communism to free enterprise is filled with daunting hurdles; it requires no less than redefining ownership, changing values concerning the distribution of wealth, transferring the control of political power, creating financial institutions and enforcing financial discipline, and making deep economic sacrifice. Kornai closes with an overall survey of postsocialist transition, describing the stages that countries tend to go through, that will be particuarly useful to scholars of comparative economic systems.

Highway and Byways: Studies on Reform and Postcommunist Transition

MIT Press]

János Kornai, a distinguished Hungarian economist, began his adult life as an ardent believer in socialism and then became a critic of the communist political and economic system. He lost family members in the Holocaust, contributed to the ideological preparation for the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, and became an influential theorist of the post-Soviet economic transition. He has been a journalist, a researcher prohibited from teaching in his home country, and a tenured professor at Harvard. By Force of Thought traces Kornai's lifelong intellectual journey and offers a subjective complement to his academic research.
Disenchanted with communism, Kornai published Overcentralization (1956), the first book written by someone living behind the Iron Curtain to be openly critical of Soviet-style economics. Although it was attacked in Hungary, it was hailed by Western economists. The Kornai-Lipták theory on two-level planning captured the attention of mathematical economists. Kornai went on to publish the controversial Anti-Equilibrium (1971), a critique of the general equilibrium theory underpinning mainstream economic analyses of markets, Economics of Shortage (1980), The Road to a Free Economy (1990), and the summary of his lifetime research, The Socialist System (1992). An intellectual emissary between East and West, Kornai commuted between Harvard and Budapest for many years.
Kornai's memoir describes his research―including his present-day evaluation of his past work―as well as the social and political environments in which he did his work. The difficulties faced by a critic of central planning in a communist country are made especially vivid by material from newly opened secret police files and informers' reports on his activities. By Force of Thought will be an essential resource for students of economic thought, socialist systems, and postsocialist transition, and for readers interested in Eastern European intellectual life before, during, and after communism.

By Force of Thought: Irregular Memoirs of an Intellectual Journey (Mit Press)

Pages are clean and binding is tight.

The Road to a Free Economy: Shifting from a Socialist System the Example of Hungary

Norton

The socialist world of Eastern Europe is undergoing its second revolution of the 20th century, moving away from a centralized government to one which is more democratic. One of the central questions of this transition is how economic mechanisms may be used to help effect the change.

Road to a Free Economy

W.W. Norton & Co., Inc.

Text: English, Hungarian (translation)

Growth, Shortage and Efficiency: A Macrodynamic Model of the Socialist Economy

Management & Leadership

Univ. Of California Pr.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Kornai, János. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Kornai, János

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Kornai, János. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Overcentralization in Economic Administration: A Critical Analysis Based on Experience in Hungarian Light Industry

Overcentralization in Economic Administration: A Critical Analysis Based on Experience in Hungarian Light Industry

Dynamism, Rivalry, and the Surplus Economy: Two Essays on the Nature of Capitalism

Contradictions and Dilemmas: Studies on the Socialist Economy and Society (English and Hungarian Edition)

By Force of Thought: Irregular Memoirs of an Intellectual Journey

Highway and Byways: Studies on Reform and Postcommunist Transition

By Force of Thought: Irregular Memoirs of an Intellectual Journey (Mit Press)

The Road to a Free Economy: Shifting from a Socialist System the Example of Hungary

Road to a Free Economy

Growth, Shortage and Efficiency: A Macrodynamic Model of the Socialist Economy