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Theories on the wage relationship, and the problem of transition in Soviet-type economies (STE) : appraisal and future prospects. The purpose of the article is to consider how effective the concept of wage relationship may be as a gauge for measuring the dynamics of the crisis, and the recent changes, affecting Soviet-type economies (STE). At the outset, the authors show that what the various attempts at regulation of the wage relarionship have in common is a view of this concept as a structural invariant. Then, following a different track, they sketch an interpretation of the transition of the STE as revolving round the idea of socialization. For this purpose, they argue that enterprises must play a part in the formation of social relationships themselves. From there, they touch upon a study of the wage relationship in the wider context of an analysis of the market mechanisms governing enterprise decisions and attitudes. This problem is based on the idea that circulation of use values must be taken into account not only as an alternative mode to the Plan in the decentralized co-ordination of economic activities, but also as the mode of evaluating the product of these various activities. In their conclusion, they show how credit plays a crucial preliminary role in decentralizing trade and production decisions.

Industrial restructuring and microeconomics adjustment in Poland. A cross sectoral approach. The paper analyses the impact of the Polish stabilisation programme on the behaviour of state owned firms by summarising and evaluating three case studies of firms. The authors outline a framework to analyse whether firms have adjusted differently according to differences in their market power, financial status, exposure to trade and international comparative advantage. They find no evidence for differences in adjustment from any source ; in all three industries, adjustment has been relatively modest and the governance of firms has hardly changed at all.

Restructuring of agriculture in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Agricultural policy in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe has entered upon a qualitatively new phase, inevitably caught up in the major sweep of the transition from planned to market economy. Beyond the change in the economic environment, the reform in agriculture has relied upon the priority accorded to privatization, seen as a guarantee of change in micro-economic attitudes, and greater efficiency in resource allocation. The process begun in 1991 turns out to be much more slow and difficult to implement then was foreseen. As in the case of industry, privatization has encountered a multiplicity of difficulties, certain of which seem even to be aggravated by the specific nature of the agricultural sector. The peasant world, eliminated as a class by the former regime, is not prepared to operate this change. The economic context in which the change is set only serves to worsen the situation. All the indications are that the process will require many years yet before these countries see the development of a new agricultural model.

Comparative analysis of direct French and German investments in the Visegrad triangle (Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland. Germany's pre-eminence as an investor in Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Poland, with direct investment flows four or five times higher then that of France, is reflected in significant differences between the two countries as regards the nature of their commitments. Regionally, German investments are mainly directed towards Czechoslovakia, while French direct investments have primarily be channeled to Hungary. In terms of sectors, German investments, above all in manufactures, contrast with the French, which are concentrated in the service sector. And lastly, in terms of structure, the most sizeable concentration of capital invested by the French reflects differences in strategy, with Germany relying on its medium-sized enterprises (« Mittelstand ») to invest in Eastern Europe, while France has recourse mainly to its multinationals. In addition, analysis of the determining factors in these investments, in terms of comparative advantages of countries, and competitive advantages of firms, must be complemented by a study of determining factors linked to the specific nature of German « Mittelstand » enterprise, which is powerfully aided and supported in its efforts to penetrate Eastern Europe by the public authorities, and by taking account of cultural factors, which operate in favour of" Germany.

The errors of socialism, according to Hayek. This article is an account of the key-ideas in the last work of Friedrich A. Hayek, who died in 1992. The book's interest lies in the fact that it embodies what Hayek saw as the essence of his major intellectual undertaking : demonstrating that the « market order » is a « spontaneous order », which cannot, without risking a decline, a retreat of civilization, be replaced by an order based on what is believed to be reason. This article also tries to answer certain questions which arise on the development of Hayek's views at the end of his life : was Hayek's liberalism transmuted into « vitalism » ? By accentuating, in his last book, what we owe to tradition, and particularly to monotheistic religions, could Hayek be said to have become a conservative ?