Necroeconomics: The Political Economy of Post-Communist Capitalism

In the last decade, nearly a dozen countries that were once part of the Soviet Union have undertaken the transition to market economies. Their transitions have constituted one of the most remarkable processes in recent economic and social history. In some cases, new economic systems have developed that cannot be squeezed into any theoretically generalized models of capitalism. The main reason that these systems evade classification is the existence of what can be termed a "necroeconomy." It is precisely because of the necroeconomy that post-Communist capitalism cannot always be explained by reference to classic theories of capitalism. Necroeconomics: The Political Economy of Post-Communist Capitalism provides a systematic review of economic theories of post-Communist transformations and reveals the necroeconomy as an exclusive product of post-Communist capitalism. It then goes on to scrutinize the problems of market equality, privatization of government-owned capital, mechanisms of the "shadow economy," corruption, and tax policy in post-Communist systems. In the chapters specifically devoted to Georgia (which was among the first republics of the USSR to declare independence), the author analyzes economic reforms over the last decade as well as the economic situation before and after the "Rose Revolution."Papava, Vladimer is the author of 'Necroeconomics: The Political Economy of Post-Communist Capitalism' with ISBN 9780595671687 and ISBN 0595671683.