Regional Price Formation in Eastern Europe

1. The place of prices in a socialist economy.- 2. Objectives of the study.- 3. Institutional background.- 4. Outline of the monograph.- I: Value and Price in Theory and Economic Policy.- 1: Value and price theory in Eastern Europe.- 1. Overall backdrop to pricing in a PE.- 2. On the concept of economic law and the role of ideology.- 3. On the law of value and price theory.- 4. The law of value and the foreign trade of PEs.- 5. Economic rationality in a socialist economy.- 6. On price theory and price policy in a PE.- 2: Prices and price policies in Eastern Europe.- 1. Multiple domestic price regimes in a generic PE.- 1. Price types.- 2. The determination of wholesale prices.- 3. Consumer prices.- 2. The relationship between domestic and foreign trade prices.- 3. Key determinants of the price tiers in a CPE.- 4. Economic reforms and the role of prices in an MPE.- 5. Domestic price formation in perspective.- 3: Price behavior prior to the Bucharest principles.- 1. The setting and rationale of intra-CMEA prices.- 2. On the emergence of an own price system and price categories.- 3. Current and stop prices, 1945-1953.- 1. Current prices until about 1949.- 2. Lagged average WMPs until 1950.- 3. Stop prices until 1953.- 4. Modified stop prices, 1954-1958.- 1. Marginal adaptations, 1954-1956.- 2. Special adjustments, 1957-1958.- 5. The role and function of trade prices.- 6. Towards a regional pricing regime?.- 4: The Bucharest price-formation principles.- 1. Backdrop to the Bucharest meeting.- 2. On the Bucharest principles.- 1. The fundamental principles for CMEA pricing.- 2. Modifiers of proper reference prices.- 3. Miscellaneous other principles.- 4. Actual transportation charges.- 3. A formal restatement.- 4. A brief evaluation and reference map.- II: The Practice of Regional Pricing.- 5: Applying the principles - conceptual issues.- 1. The setting of the Bucharest principles.- 2. The Bucharest principles and trade conduct.- 3. Trade negotiations and WMPs.- 1. The trading system.- 2. The documentation of WMPs.- 3. Changes in the commodity composition of trade.- 4. The peculiarities of east-west economic relations.- 5. Inertia on the part of negotiators.- 6. Time limitations.- 4. Major determinants of TRPs.- 1. Socialist planning for structural change.- 2. A socialist world market.- 3. The bilateral trading world.- 5. Towards a regional price system?.- 1. Different types of products traded in the CMEA.- 2. A morphology of separate price-formation environments.- 3. The effects of the traditional trade model and price reforms.- 6. Drawbacks of the CMEA price regime.- 1. Economic scarcity and TRPs.- 2. Price heterogeneity.- 3. Market interaction and flexibility.- 4. Regional specialization.- 5. Arbitrage.- 6. Timeliness of price signals.- 6: Modeling price behavior - the literature.- 1. A brief summary of earlier research.- 2. Price discrimination in the CMEA.- 3. The price effects of forming a customs union.- 4. On the opportunity cost of CMEA trading.- 5. On implicit trade subsidies in the CMEA.- 6. Differences between TRPs and WMPs.- 7. On the empirical relationship between TRPs, EWPs, and WMPs.- 7: Econometric applications.- 1. Empirical problems and trade statistics.- 1. Overall characteristics of Eastern European trade statistics.- 2. Informational requirements for statistical tests.- 3. On the Hungarian foreign trade statistics.- 4. On the relationship between TRPs and WMPs.- 5. On the relationship between TRPs and EWPs.- 6. On the time perspective.- 7. Export and import homogeneity.- 2. The model to be tested.- 3. The relationship between TRPs and WMPs.- 4. The relationship between TRPs and EWPs - an in-growth?.- 1. Rationale for an in-growth model.- 2. Estimates based on absolute price data.- 3. The relationships for price indices.- 5. On the question of using unit values.- 6. A summing up and directions for further work.- III: Reforming CMEA Pricing in Perspective.- 8: Reform and pricing in the CMEA.- 1. Drawbacks of the present price mechanisms.- 2. Searching for an alternative TRP regime.- 3. Economic theory and international prices.- 4. The relevance of the pre-1970 debate.- 1. Myopic proposals.- 2. Modified myopic proposals.- 3. Comprehensive reforms.- 5. Towards the elaboration of an IPS.- 6. The pricing debate and SEI.- 9: Positive economic adjustment and price reform.- 1. Structural adjustment and alternative TRP regimes.- 2. Towards an own price regime.- 3. The main characteristics of a realistic IPS.- 4. Scientific-technological Progress and an IPS.- 5. Towards a CMEA price reform.