The spread of economic ideas and the political economy paradigm shift in eastern Europe: Diffusion, institutional processes and epistemic choice.

摘要

The fast political and economic transition from communism to democracy and market economy in Eastern Europe in the 1990's has been preceded by a lengthy and yet unfinished transition in the realm of economic and political ideas. The change in the realm of ideas was the basic precondition and one of the major forces that set into motion the transformations leading to the collapse of the communist regime and the emergence on its ruins of a liberal order. The dissertation is an attempt to explore one specific aspect of this change of ideas phenomenon: the political economy paradigm shift. The study traces the process of diffusion of Western economic ideas during the ten years before and after 1989 through a comparative examination of nine East European countries. It systematically investigates using expert surveys, content analysis and international databases the institutions, networks and channels associated to this process. The study goes beyond a descriptive account and examines the paradigm shift by applying it a series of theories, models and interpretive frameworks meant to identify the mechanisms and processes through which the most fundamental ideas about institutional order are selected. The result is not only a systematic description of how the Western political economy ideas diffused in Eastern Europe but also an assessment of the factors and mechanisms facilitating or hindering this process.