Autore
Colombatto, Enrico

Titolo
A praxeological view of post-soviet institutional engneering
Periodico
International Center for Economics Research, Torino. ICER - Working papers series
Anno: 2001 - Fascicolo: 13 - Pagina iniziale: 1 - Pagina finale: 19

The Misesian lesson in a transition framework leads to a number of questions about the very aims pursued by individuals as they switched from the communist regime to a so-called capitalist environment. According to the answers provided, one may then understand why so many candidates to free-market experiments are now evolving towards some kind of mixed-economy system. This paper tries to suggest the right questions by looking at the origin of the transition process in Eastern Europe. Four different theories are put forwards and analyzed. It is concluded that the so-called transition economies did not opt for a clearly-defined institutional system to oppose to Soviet communism. Rather, transition should refer to a painful process of finding out new institutional rules apt to replace the previous order. Nationalistic feelings surely play an important role and may explain why paternalistic policies tend to be welcome. From a praxeological viewpoint, it will be important to assess whether the present institutional framework is flexible enough to accommodate today's yearning for paternalistic policies, but strong enough to resist pressure to transform paternalism into redistribution and thereby award privileges to new rent-seeking coalitions.orated.



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