Understanding the Market Economy

By Thorvaldur Gylfason, Arne Jon Isachsen, Carl B. Hamilton

This book offers a rigorous and comprehensive analysis of the workings of a planned economy versus that of a market economy. The authors expound the principles of market economics in the context of the main problems facing economies in transition from a centrally planned to a market structure: privatization, the role of money, environmental policy, and international trade. Real-life experiences, rather than formal equations, are employed to emphasize vital points, making the book accessible to the reader without formal training in economics. Though the focus is on Central and Eastern Europe, the discussion is relevant to the privatization process in market economies and serves as a useful introduction to general economic principles.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0198773579
• ISBN13: 9780198773573
• Release Date: February 1993
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 264 Pages
• Weight: 0.79 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Don't overlook it

I don't review a lot, but I like to speak up for books that seem to me overlooked, especially if there is a risk of their going out of print, etc. Anyway -- there is a spate of books out there purporting to explain the mechanics of the market, but this one seems to me one of the best. It's analytically ambitious, but nothing beyond the comprehension of a serious amateur. It's also refreshingly free of the somewhat shrill celebratory preaching that you get so often in the genre. I've been pushing it on law students with no econ background & have enjoyed gratifying success. Please buy it so the publisher keeps it available.