The Restructuring of East European Agriculture

Abstract

Dealing with the role of agriculture in the transition from a centrally planned to a market economy, one must be aware of the role which agriculture in general plays in the economy at large - a role which is similar in industrial and industrialising countries independent of the economic system. Among the East European countries (here and subsequently including the USSR) one finds not only differences but also common features concerning this role in general and in the transition process in particular. I have no major disagreements with the papers of Benet (Ch. 9) and Boffito (Ch. 8). I will complement them by pointing out some general features and then try to review problems of privatisation in a comparative and at the same time generalising way.