Economic Reforms and Constitutional Transition

45 Pages Posted: 27 Jan 2001

See all articles by Jeffrey D. Sachs

Jeffrey D. Sachs

Columbia University - Columbia Earth Institute; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Wing Thye Woo

University of California, Davis - Department of Economics

Xiaokai Yang

Monash University - Department of Economics

Date Written: October 2000

Abstract

This paper investigates the relationship between economic reforms and constitutional transition, which has been neglected by many transition economists. It is argued that assessment of reform performance might be very misleading if it is not recognized that economic reforms are just a small part of large scale of constitutional transition. Rivalry and competition between states and between political forces within each country are the driving forces for constitutional transition. We use Russia as an example of economic reforms associated with constitutional transition and China as an example of economic reforms in the absence of constitutional transition to examine features and problems in the two patterns of transition. It is concluded that under political monopoly of the ruling party, economic transition will be hijacked by state opportunism. Dual track approach to economic transition may generate very high long-term cost of constitutional transition that might outweigh its short-term benefit of buying out the vested interests.

Suggested Citation

Sachs, Jeffrey D. and Woo, Wing Thye and Yang, Xiaokai, Economic Reforms and Constitutional Transition (October 2000). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=254110 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.254110

Jeffrey D. Sachs

Columbia University - Columbia Earth Institute ( email )

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Wing Thye Woo

University of California, Davis - Department of Economics ( email )

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Xiaokai Yang (Contact Author)

Monash University - Department of Economics ( email )

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