Economic Miracle and National Debt
On the Political Economy of East Central Europe
Dorothee Bohle, Béla Greskovits
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
The 20 years of democracy and market economics in East Central Europe have been a great success. This distinguishes Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary from almost all of the other post-Socialist states. This model of success has two components. First, these four states succeeded in becoming the manufacturing site for transnational companies. That creates jobs and brings capital into the region. Second, the governments softened the social hardships of the transformation by means of welfare state policies. The price is an enormous national debt. Since EU accession, it has been necessary to take action against this. Dissatisfaction is growing, and populist forces are finding growing support.
(Osteuropa 2-3/2009, pp. 349–356)