Janos Kornai
Biographic Data
| ID | 1065862 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Janos Kornai |
| GIVEN NAMES | Janos |
| FAMILY NAME | Kornai |
| SIGNATURE | KORNAI J |
| AFFILIATIONS | Hungarian Academy of Sciences |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 54 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 636 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 50 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 4 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1957 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2021 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
In Hungary: As I saw it then and as I see it now
On the death of Kenneth J. Arrow. A personal leave-taking
The system paradigm revisited: Clarification and additions in the light of experiences in the post-socialist region
Le terme de paradigme a été introduit en philosophie des sciences par Thomas Kuhn – il l’employait pour définir l’approche particulière que suit un courant de recherche pour étudier son objet. Les chercheurs qui se réfèrent à un même paradigme cherchent à répondre à des questions identiques, et ont recours à des méthodes et des concepts similaires. Dans un article publié en 2000, l’auteur du présent essai avait introduit le terme de paradigme sys…
The System Paradigm Revisited. Clarification and Additions in the Light of Experiences in the Post-Socialist Region
The term paradigm was introduced to the philosophy of science by Thomas Kuhn -he used this term to denote the specifi c approach applied by a school of reasearch to examine its subject matter.Researchers using the same paradigm seek answers to similar questions, and employ similar methods and concepts.In an article published in 2000, the author of this essay introduced the term system paradigm, which focuses on the systems functioning in a societ…
Hungary’S U-Turn
For two decades Hungary, like the other Eastern European countries, followed a general policy of establishing and strengthening the institutions of democracy, rule of law, and a market economy based on private property. However, since the elections of 2010, when Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party came to power, Hungary has made a dramatic U-turn. This article investigates the different spheres of society: political institutions, the rule of law, and the…
Hungary’s U-Turn: Retreating from Democracy
For two decades, Hungary, like the other Eastern European countries, followed a general policy of establishing and strengthening the institutions of democracy, rule of law, and a market economy based on private property. However, since the elections of 2010, when Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party came to power, Hungary has made a dramatic U-turn. This article investigates the different spheres of society: political institutions, the rule of law, and th…
Dynamism, Rivalry, and the Surplus Economy: Two Essays on the Nature of Capitalism
This book examines capitalism as an economic system and in comparison to socialism. The book explains a view of capitalism as an economy of surplus—a chronic excess of supply of goods and labor. This environment breeds rivalry among producers, which in turn encourages innovation. Socialism, on the other hand, is defined by a shortage of goods and labor and excess of demand. Whereas socialism is slothful and imitative, capitalism is dynamic and pr…
Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité: Promišljanja o promjenama koje slijede nakon pada komunizma
Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité: Reflections on the Changes following the Collapse of Communism
What happened 20 years ago in the region formerly ruled by a communist regime was a velvet revolution. And even if it was a revolution without bloodshed, it is a legitimate question to ask what was realized of the revolutionary motto: Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité? Liberty is a bundle of rights, composed of at least three sets: (1) political rights; (2) rights of free entrepreneurship, free entry to the market; and (3) freedom of choice between al…
Corruption, Development and Institutional Design
With the aim of providing a comprehensive analysis of institutions, and of the global economy more generally, this volume explores systems of institutions and the effect of corruption, developments in
Marx through the Eyes of an East European Intellectual
I am afraid all that can be said of Karl Marx has already been written. What I can add to this great body of literature is the specific vantage point from which I view Marx's work. What I shall convey is not some collective statement of the East European intelligentsia, but my individual story. But I should add that my own story is typical in many respects. Many phases of my life, if not the whole of it, could stand for similar phases in the live…
The soft budget constraint syndrome in the hospital sector
Research to date has focused mainly on the soft budget constraint syndrome in the corporate sector and in the credit system. This article concentrates on the hospital sector. It describes the motivations and the contradictory nature of the behaviour of the patient, the physician, the hospital director, the politician and the hospital owner. The motivations explain the reasons behind the strong inclination to overspend and the tendency of softenin…
From Socialism to Capitalism: Eight Essays
Eight essays connected by various common strands. The most important one is the community of the main subject-matter: socialism, capitalism, democracy, change of system. These four expressions cover four phenomena of great and comprehensive importance. Each piece in the book deals with these and the connections between them. One of the Leitmotifs is the “capitalism/socialism” pair of opposites. Capitalism has a history of several hundred years, w…
Disciplines of social sciences: Separation or cooperation
The author addresses the question of interdisciplinary studies based on his own experience. His negative experiences are confirmed by the results of a quantitative survey demonstrating that the proportion of citations from other disciplines is very low in four examined fields (economics, law, political science and sociology). But the overall picture is colored by positive examples: the theory of rational choice and game theory have broken the bou…
From Socialism to Capitalism
The author has collected here the studies in which he sought to contribute to the theory of the great systems, the political governmental forms, and the change of system. Though he tries to answer the questions he puts to himself, the questions may actually be seen as more important than the responses. What is socialism? What is capitalism? What is democracy? Studying a country at a given moment, how is it possible to decide whether the instituti…
La grande transformation de l'Europe centrale et orientale: Succès et désillusions
L'auteur commence par examiner les changements survenus en Europe centrale et orientale dans le contexte de l'histoire .mondiale. L'analyse historique comparative à laquelle il procède confirme sans l'ombre d'un doute que la transformation eut un caractère unique. Elle fut la seule transformation totale qui se déroula pacifiquement, sans violence et, en même temps, incroyablement vite, induisant des changements politiques et économiques conformes…
The great transformation of central and eastern Europe: Success and disappointment
The study examines the changes of the Central Eastern European region first in the context of world history. It confirms by comparative historical analyses that the transformation was indeed unique. This has been the only total transformation that took place peacefully, without violence, and at the same time astonishingly fast, in the main direction of the economic and the political changes of Western civilization. From that perspective it is an …
Velika transformacija srednjoistočne Europe: Uspjeh i razočaranje
Janos Kornai je emeritus profesor ekonomije na sveucilistu Harvard i stalni clan Instituta za napredne studije Collegim Budapest, te bivsi redovni profesor Ekonomskog instituta Mađarske akademije znanosti. Autor je vise kritickih radova o planskom gospodarstvu među kojima su najznacajniji Economics of Shortage (1980.) i The Socialist System, The Political Economy of Communism (1988.), te radova o ekonomskoj tranziciji među kojima su i The Road to…
Creating Social Trust in Post-Socialist Transition
Beneficial social and economic exchange relies on a certain level of trust. But trust is a delicate matter, not least in the former socialist countries where illegitimate behaviour by governments made
Building a Trustworthy State in Post-Socialist Transition
Building a Trustworthy State in Post-Socialist Transition considers the problems and prospects for creating trustworthy and reliable public institutions in the aftermath of the transition from sociali
Understanding the Soft Budget Constraint
We propose a clarification of the notion of a soft budget constraint, a concept widely used in the analysis of socialist, transitional, and market economies. Our interpretation is broad enough to embrace most existing approaches to soft budget constraint phenomena and provides a classification of their causes and consequences. In light of this interpretation, we then review the theoretical literature on the subject and compare it with those on ot…
Reforming the State: Fiscal and Welfare Reform in Post-Socialist Countries
Countries of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe are entering the second decade of political transformation and economic reform. The first decade involved macroeconomic stabilization, privatization, and development of the basic institutional infrastructure of a market economy. The new policy challenges center on the nature of the social contract between citizens and their governments. These challenges include identifying the appropriate bo…
What the Change of System From Socialism to Capitalism Does and Does Not Mean
rT s wo systems can be said to have dominated the 20th century: the capitalist system and the socialist system.' However, this judgement is not selfevident. It usually encounters three objections. The first objection is that it is exaggerated and unjustified to mention the socialist system alongside the capitalist system, almost in parallel with it. In terms of world history, the socialist system was a brief interlude, a temporary aberration in t…
The Political Economy of the Hungarian Stabilization and Austerity Program
In this study I would like to place the current problems of the Hungarian economic policy in a wider historical and political economy perspective. For that purpose a brief outline of Hungarian development in the last three decades is needed.
Struggle and Hope: Essays on Stabilization and Reform in a Post-socialist Economy
The socialist system: The Political Economy of Communism
Economics of shortage
The Soft Budget Constraint
The 'softening' of the budget constraint appears when the strict relationship between the expenditure and the earnings of an economic unit (firm, household, etc.) has been relaxed, because excess expenditure will be paid by some other institution, typically be the paternalistic State. The higher the subjective probability that excess expenditure will be covered by external assistance, the softer the budget constraint. The main focus of the paper …
Hungary’s U-Turn: Retreating from Democracy
For two decades, Hungary, like the other Eastern European countries, followed a general policy of establishing and strengthening the institutions of democracy, rule of law, and a market economy based on private property. However, since the elections of 2010, when Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party came to power, Hungary has made a dramatic U-turn. This article investigates the different spheres of society: political institutions, the rule of law, and th…
What the Change of System From Socialism to Capitalism Does and Does Not Mean
rT s wo systems can be said to have dominated the 20th century: the capitalist system and the socialist system.' However, this judgement is not selfevident. It usually encounters three objections. The first objection is that it is exaggerated and unjustified to mention the socialist system alongside the capitalist system, almost in parallel with it. In terms of world history, the socialist system was a brief interlude, a temporary aberration in t…
The Road to a Free Economy: Shifting from a Socialist System: The Example of Hungary
The Affinity Between Ownership Forms and Coordination Mechanisms: The Common Experience of Reform in Socialist Countries
The world is witnessing a great upheaval in socialist countries, where dramatic events have been happening since 1988. The present paper concentrates on evaluating past experience in the hope that a correct understanding of the past will help in devising sound policies for the future. In the following, I distinguish two prototypes of socialism. The first one is classical socialism: the form of socialism that prevailed under Stalin, Mao Zedong, an…
Hungary’S U-Turn
For two decades Hungary, like the other Eastern European countries, followed a general policy of establishing and strengthening the institutions of democracy, rule of law, and a market economy based on private property. However, since the elections of 2010, when Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party came to power, Hungary has made a dramatic U-turn. This article investigates the different spheres of society: political institutions, the rule of law, and the…
Highways and Byways: Studies on Reform and Post-Communist Transition
Journal Article Highways and Byways: Studies on Reform and Post-Communist Transition. Get access Highways and Byways: Studies on Reform and Post-Communist Transition. By Kornai (Janos). (Cambridge, Mass. and London: MIT Press, 1995. Pp. xv + 241. £26.95 hardback, US $40 hardback. ISBN 0 262 11 198 5.) Martin Myant Martin Myant University of Paisley Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Economic Journal, Volu…
In Hungary: As I saw it then and as I see it now
Postsocialist transition: An overall survey
The lecture outlines a conceptual framework for the analysis of changes in those countries going through the transformation from a socialist economy to a market economy. It takes a positive predictive approach. It describes seven tendencies which are very likely to apply. (1) Marketization replacing the command economy. (2) The evolution of the private sector—a broad new middle class will develop. (3) Reproduction of macrodisequilibria. The inher…
Paternalism, buyers' and sellers' market
Some properties of the Eastern European growth pattern
The System Paradigm Revisited. Clarification and Additions in the Light of Experiences in the Post-Socialist Region
The term paradigm was introduced to the philosophy of science by Thomas Kuhn -he used this term to denote the specifi c approach applied by a school of reasearch to examine its subject matter.Researchers using the same paradigm seek answers to similar questions, and employ similar methods and concepts.In an article published in 2000, the author of this essay introduced the term system paradigm, which focuses on the systems functioning in a societ…
Ahistorical Political Economics
Perestroika in Eastern Europe: Hungary's Economic Transformation 1945-1988
Journal Article Perestroika in Eastern Europe: Hungary's Economic Transformation 1945-1988 Get access Perestroika in Eastern Europe: Hungary's Economic Transformation ig^à à ¢à à à à ig88. By GABOR REVESZ. (Boulder, San Francisco and London: Westview Press, 1990. Pp. xv+ 182. à à à à £21.00 paperback. ISBN o 8133 7752 8.)The Road to a Free Economy: Shifting from a Socialist System: The Example of Hungary. By JANOS KORNAI. (New York and London: W.…
Socialist Transformation and Privatization: Shifting from a Socialist System
La pénurie — problème fondamental des économies centralement planifiées — et la réforme hongroise
L'article est constitué d'une interview de Janos Kornai, effectuée par une journaliste de Munich, qui l'a longuement interrogé sur les problèmes économiques des pays est-européens et notamment sur la pénurie qui est l'effet secondaire le plus frappant de l'économie planifiée. Quelles sont les causes de cette pénurie et pourquoi pose-t-elle autant problème ? Avant d'indiquer les principales causes de la pénurie, Kornai insiste sur quatre points qu…
Agazdasagi Vezetes Tulzott Kozpontdsitasa
Journal Article Agazdasagi Vezetés Tulzott Központdsitása Get access Agazdasagi Vezetés Tulzott Központdsitása. By Janos Kornai. (Budapest: Kozgazdasagi es Jogi Konyvkiado, 1957. Pp. 207.) A. E. Jasay A. E. Jasay Oxford Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Economic Journal, Volume 67, Issue 268, 1 December 1957, Pages 718–721, https://doi.org/10.2307/2227719 Published: 01 December 1957
Overcentralization in Economic Administration: A Critical Analysis Based on Experience in Hungarian Light Industry
Originally published in 1959, this monograph by an Eastern European economist boldly and openly criticized socialist central planning. It is here reissued with a new preface. With this book, Kornai began a lifelong study of the economic organization of centrally planned economies. He identified several systemic failures of the centrally planned economy, and gave a prescient account of weak economic performance and eventual disintegration. Kornai'…
The Rate of Interest in the Long-Term Accounting of Economic Efficiency
Mathematical Planning of Structural Decisions
Anti-Äquilibrium
Resource-Constrained versus Demand-Constrained Systems
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Economics of shortage
Some properties of the Eastern European growth pattern
On the Slowing Down of the Growth of Eastern-European Socialist Countries
Paternalism, buyers' and sellers' market
La pénurie — problème fondamental des économies centralement planifiées — et la réforme hongroise
L'article est constitué d'une interview de Janos Kornai, effectuée par une journaliste de Munich, qui l'a longuement interrogé sur les problèmes économiques des pays est-européens et notamment sur la pénurie qui est l'effet secondaire le plus frappant de l'économie planifiée. Quelles sont les causes de cette pénurie et pourquoi pose-t-elle autant problème ? Avant d'indiquer les principales causes de la pénurie, Kornai insiste sur quatre points qu…
Reproduction of shortage on the Hungarian car market
Recent Contributions to the Political Economy of State Socialism
The Soft Budget Constraint
The 'softening' of the budget constraint appears when the strict relationship between the expenditure and the earnings of an economic unit (firm, household, etc.) has been relaxed, because excess expenditure will be paid by some other institution, typically be the paternalistic State. The higher the subjective probability that excess expenditure will be covered by external assistance, the softer the budget constraint. The main focus of the paper …
Contradictions and Dilemmas: Studies on the Socialist Economy and Society
These seven essays by the Eastern block's most important economist address and explore many of the critical social and economic issues inherent in the socialist economy. Published in Hungary in 1983, they are the firsthand observations of an insider who attempts to be as frank and impartial as possible about the experiment in his own country.The essays distinguish the classical or traditional form of a highly centralized socialist economy from a …
Creating a Market Economy in Eastern Europe: The Case of Poland
Case o f Poland THE POLITICAL and intellectual leaders of Eastern Europe's revolution of 1989 describe their aim as a "return to Europe." Their overwhelming judgment is that the postwar division of Europe into East and West was artificially imposed by the Soviet Union, at enormous human and economic cost. They underscore the artificiality of the division by referring to their region as East Central Europe (or Middle Europe), rather than Eastern E…
Socialist Transformation and Privatization: Shifting from a Socialist System
The Road to a Free Economy: Shifting from a Socialist System: The Example of Hungary
The Affinity Between Ownership Forms and Coordination Mechanisms: The Common Experience of Reform in Socialist Countries
The world is witnessing a great upheaval in socialist countries, where dramatic events have been happening since 1988. The present paper concentrates on evaluating past experience in the hope that a correct understanding of the past will help in devising sound policies for the future. In the following, I distinguish two prototypes of socialism. The first one is classical socialism: the form of socialism that prevailed under Stalin, Mao Zedong, an…
Perestroika in Eastern Europe: Hungary's Economic Transformation 1945-1988
Journal Article Perestroika in Eastern Europe: Hungary's Economic Transformation 1945-1988 Get access Perestroika in Eastern Europe: Hungary's Economic Transformation ig^à à ¢à à à à ig88. By GABOR REVESZ. (Boulder, San Francisco and London: Westview Press, 1990. Pp. xv+ 182. à à à à £21.00 paperback. ISBN o 8133 7752 8.)The Road to a Free Economy: Shifting from a Socialist System: The Example of Hungary. By JANOS KORNAI. (New York and London: W.…
The Socialist System: The Political Economy of Communism
This book presents a comprehensive analysis of socialist economics. It addresses the reasons for the early successes of socialist systems, and the reasons for their gradual breakdown. There are twenty‐eight chapters, of which the first two (in Part One of the book) are introductory. The remaining chapters are arranged in two further parts. Part Two, (chapters 3–15), deals with classical socialism, defined as the political structure and economy th…
The Socialist System: The Political Economy of Communism
To understand the dramatic collapse of the socialist order and the current turmoil in the formerly communist world, this comprehensive work examines the most important common properties of all socialist societies. JNBnos Kornai brings a life-long study of the problems of the socialist system to his explanation of why inherent attributes of socialism inevitably produced in-efficiency. In his past work he has focused on the economic sphere, maintai…
The socialist system: The Political Economy of Communism
Postsocialist transition: An overall survey
The lecture outlines a conceptual framework for the analysis of changes in those countries going through the transformation from a socialist economy to a market economy. It takes a positive predictive approach. It describes seven tendencies which are very likely to apply. (1) Marketization replacing the command economy. (2) The evolution of the private sector—a broad new middle class will develop. (3) Reproduction of macrodisequilibria. The inher…
Farewell to Socialism
Political science (39 works) · Economics (34 works) · Politics (19 works) · Economic system (18 works) · Law (18 works) · Political economy (17 works) · Post-Communist Economic and Political Transition (16 works) · Russia and Soviet political economy (14 works) · Sociology (13 works) · Communism (11 works)