Adam Smith goes to Moscow : a dialogue on radical reform

Adam Smith Goes to Moscow is a captivating dialogue between the head of a hypothetical, formerly socialist East European country and a fervently market-minded American advisor. Their spirited give-and-take highlights the monumental political as well as economic complexities currently faced by the former Soviet bloc countries as they struggle to transform themselves into free market economies. Walter Adams and James Brock depict the American expert as an advocate of radical reform. "I am delighted to share with you the extensive experience that Western economists, especially American experts, have accumulated over the years in dealing with these problems," the American says. But the skeptical Prime Minister views the Advisor's lectures as "boilerplate," in many ways too simplistic for the unique situation of the newly liberated nations. While agreeing with the Advisor that a "bitter pill," "shock therapy," or "big bang" may be necessary to rehabilitate a comatose socialist economy, the Prime Minister is painfully aware of the cultural and political barriers to such extreme measures: Strong medicine may be required, but an overdose could kill the patient. As did Adams's and Brock's earlier dialogue, Antitrust Economics on Trial, this concise and cleverly constructed work illuminates both sides of an extremely important debate. The controversy here, between proponents of the "big bang" approach to economic reform and supporters of gradualism, embraces a number of difficult questions. Can Western capitalism be exported? How does a nation create the new institutional infrastructure essential to a democratic market society? What tactics are required to surmount the obstructionism of vested interests in the old order? What lessons does the transformation of Eastern Europe offer the West in its own struggles to promote economic growth and global competitiveness, while controlling seemingly endemic budget deficits? Students of economics will not only be intrigued by the unique format which Adams and Brock use to address these questions, but they will come away from the work with significant insights as well. And for noneconomists, Adam Smith Goes to Moscow provides a lucid survey of these cataclysmic issues as well as a light-hearted introduction to some fundamental economic concepts. The authors' purpose is not to present an ideal blueprint far change but to help us understand the astonishing events that have occurred since the end of the Cold War