Journal of Economic Perspectives
ISSN 0895-3309 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7965 (Online)
The Central Role of Entrepreneurs in Transition Economies
Journal of Economic Perspectives
(pp. 153–170)
(Complimentary)
Abstract
The authors summarize entrepreneurial patterns in the transition economies, particularly Russia, China, Poland and Vietnam. Markets developed spontaneously in every transition country, but they were built at varying speeds. Some governments impeded the entrepreneurs' self-help by creating conditions that made it hard for informal contracting to work; others created an environment that was conducive to self-help. The spontaneous emergence of markets, furthermore, has its limits. As firms' activities became more complex, they came to need formal institutions. Some governments fostered entrepreneurship by building market-supporting infrastructure; others did not. The authors argue that the success or failure of a transition economy can be traced in large part to the performance of its entrepreneurs.Citation
McMillan, John, and Christopher Woodruff. 2002. "The Central Role of Entrepreneurs in Transition Economies." Journal of Economic Perspectives 16 (3): 153–170. DOI: 10.1257/089533002760278767JEL Classification
- M13 New Firms; Startups
- P31 Socialist Enterprises and Their Transitions