Transition Economics Meets New Structural Economics - A Workshop

25-26 June 2013

The recent global financial crisis has generated much debate about our understanding of the process of economic development, economic integration and globalization. In particular, the Economies of Eastern Europe and Former Soviet Union - (ex) Transition economies - have experienced the biggest relative decline in the pace of economic growth. Therefore, it is timely to re-examine the theories and conceptual perspectives that have guided the transition process so far and to emphasise their virtues, understand their limits and propose new directions.

The workshop will bring together experts in Transition Economies to discuss different approaches to economic development and their theoretical underpinnings. Discussions will in particular contrast the traditional wisdom defending transition and institutional change with insights from New Structural Economics and Neo-Schumpeterian Political Economy.

The aim of the workshop is to:

• Explore similarities and differences between TE and NSE as distinctive theoretical and conceptual perspectives on development
• Explore possibilities for synthesis of neo-liberalism and structuralism as well as merger of NSE and TE into a new synthesis
• Explore relevance of TE and NSE in understanding and facilitating growth in the post-2008 Eastern Europe

Speakers include: Justin Yifu Lin, Erik Bergloff, Michael Landesmann, Giovanni Dosi.

• Full workshop description
• Provisional Programme