Economic transition in Poland: the relevance of the Latin-American experience

Vol. 15 No. 4 (1995)

Oct-Dec / 1995
Published October 1, 1995
PDF-English
PDF-English

How to Cite

Berríos, Rubén. 1995. “Economic Transition in Poland: The Relevance of the Latin-American Experience”. Brazilian Journal of Political Economy 15 (4):577-99. https://doi.org/10.1590/0101-31571995-0845.

Economic transition in Poland: the relevance of the Latin-American experience

Rubén Berríos
Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh, United States.
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 15 No. 4 (1995), Oct-Dec / 1995, Pages 577-599

Abstract

Shock therapy was used in Poland causing many problems. It is true that four
years later the economy started to grow again, but the transition to the market economy
took place with high unemployment rates and increasing social inequalities. Poland’s liberalization
and economic stabilization program has a lot to do with similar programs experienced
in Latin America and could be useful to Poland. In the short term, costs are similar
to those of the Latin American experience. Even though stabilization was partially achieved,
the social costs that took off were large, making the continuation of economic reform politically
indigestible in the democratic context.

JEL Classification: P21; P52.


Keywords: Transitional economies liberalization stabilization