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Article

What the Change of System From Socialism to Capitalism Does and Does Not Mean

János Kornai · Journal of Economic Perspectives 14(1), 27–42 · 2000

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Type
Article
Author
János Kornai
Identifier
DOI 10.1257/jep.14.1.27
Accessed
2026-09-01

Claims citing this source

3 claims
TheoryThe 'new comparative economics' of Djankov, Glaeser, La Porta, Lopez-de-Silanes and Shleifer (2003) frames institutional choice as a trade-off between the social costs of disorder (private expropriation) and of dictatorship (expropriation by the state).EstablishedNo country that ran comprehensive Soviet-type central planning kept it after 1991; China, Vietnam and Laos replaced administrative allocation with market coordination while keeping one-party rule.TheoryKornai argued that the decisive features of the socialist system are the political monopoly of a communist party and dominant state ownership, from which bureaucratic coordination, soft budget constraints and chronic shortage follow.