Income, Inequality, and Poverty During the Transition from Planned to Market Economy

The collapse of Communism proved to be an epoch of great turmoil. The period witnessed dramatic declines in income, growing poverty and unemployment, and great uncertainty, but also the making of great fortunes, the availability of consumer goods of incomparably better quality, and opportunities for people to control and alter their lives. This book studies income, inequality, and poverty during this remarkable period and the "construction" of capitalism in eighteen former socialist countries--from the Czech Republic in the West to Kazakhstan and Russia in the East. It examines what has happened to the real incomes of the population, to the inequality with which incomes and expenditures are distributed, and to poverty and explores reasons for these changes.