Hella Engerer analyses the emergence, evolution and theory of property rights and establishes the limits for privatization of state owned enterprises in the transitional economies of Eastern Europe. She counters the assumption that reduction of the state sector helps to create the basis for a private property system, showing that privatization actually presupposes a stable framework including property order. She makes use of an outstanding methodological approach, reaching well beyond the limits of pure economic observation. This is a major contribution to the understanding of the emerging economic order of Central and Eastern Europe.

List of Tables
General Editors' Foreword
Preface
Introduction
Property Rights in Philosophy and Economics
Property Rights in Planned Economies
Property Rights in Transition
Summary and Prospects
Bibliography
Main Economic Indicators
Appendix
Index

HELLA ENGERER is Senior Researcher at the German Institute for Economic Research, Berlin, Germany.