Choice Review

This volume is the result of a research project on the role of planning in the strategy of socioeconomic development, a project organized by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences Institute of Economics and supported by UNESCO. The 22 papers, 10 by Hungarian scholars and the remainder by both Western and Eastern experts, were presented at a 1989 international conference. The major theme is that macroeconomic planning for Soviet-type economies, albeit of a radically changed nature, is necessary as "the engine of transformation." Since neither market nor plan is a perfect coordinating mechanism, both must be structured so as to mutually reinforce advantages and correct weaknesses. Topics analyzed include the theoretical problems of planning; its actual practice and how it can be improved; why reforms must be extended to the bureaucracy, the political system, and property relations; experiences of planning in some market economies; and the necessity and requirements of achieving a new paradigm of nation-wide planning. Compare with Michael Ellman, Socialist Planning (2nd ed., 1989) and Economic Adjustment and Reform in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, ed. by Josef Brada et al. (CH, Sep'89). Chapter notes. For upper-division and graduate collections. -B. B. Brown Jr., Southern Oregon State College