IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/imf/imfwpa/2001-006.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Growth Slowdown in Bureaucratic Economic Systems: An Issue Revisited

Author

Listed:
  • Mr. Ales Bulir
  • Ms. Zuzana Brixiova

Abstract

Bureaucratically organized systems tend to be less efficient than economies in which agents are free to choose their output targets, as well as the means to meet them. This paper presents a simple model of planner-manager interactions and shows how bureaucratic economies can end up in a low-effort, low-growth equilibrium even though they may have started in high-effort , high-growth equilibrium. The empirical evidence from eight Central and Eastern European countries during 1948-49 is consistent with our model results, namely, that the growth decline was systemic in nature. The results are applicable to countries in other regions with heavy bureaucratic involvement in the economy.

Suggested Citation

  • Mr. Ales Bulir & Ms. Zuzana Brixiova, 2001. "Growth Slowdown in Bureaucratic Economic Systems: An Issue Revisited," IMF Working Papers 2001/006, International Monetary Fund.
    • Handle: RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2001/006
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.aspx?sk=3961
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brada, Josef C., 1978. "Plan execution and the workability of soviet planning," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 2(1), pages 65-69, March.
    2. Xavier Freixas & Roger Guesnerie & Jean Tirole, 1985. "Planning under Incomplete Information and the Ratchet Effect," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 52(2), pages 173-191.
    3. Easterly, William & Levine, Ross, 1998. "Troubles with the Neighbours: Africa's Problem, Africa's Opportunity," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 7(1), pages 120-142, March.
    4. Leamer, Edward E. & Taylor, Mark P., 1999. "Estimating growth equations for previously centrally planned economies: Dealing with dubious data and disparate information," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 639-671.
    5. Nicholas Crafts, 1999. "East Asian Growth Before and After the Crisis," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 46(2), pages 1-2.
    6. Sapir, Andre, 1980. "Economic Growth and Factor Substitution: What Happened to the Yugoslav Miracle?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 90(358), pages 294-313, June.
    7. Branko Milanović, 2000. "Determinants of Cross-Country Income Inequality: An ‘Augmented’ Kuznets Hypothesis," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Vojmir Franičević & Milica Uvalić (ed.), Equality, Participation, Transition, chapter 4, pages 48-79, Palgrave Macmillan.
    8. Ellman,Michael, 2014. "Socialist Planning," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107074736.
    9. Alexeev, Michael, 1991. "The 'storming' pattern of enterprise behavior in a centrally planned economy," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 173-185, March.
    10. Baron, David P. & Besanko, David, 1984. "Regulation and information in a continuing relationship," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 1(3), pages 267-302.
    11. Parsons, John E, 1986. "Credit Contracts in the G.D.R.: Decentralized Investment Decisions in a Planned Economy," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 28-51.
    12. Easterly, William & Fischer, Stanley, 1995. "The Soviet Economic Decline," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 9(3), pages 341-371, September.
    13. Banerjee, Abhijit V. & Spagat, Michael, 1992. "Shortages amid plenty under Soviet-type planning: A theory of unreliable supplies," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 302-308, June.
    14. Hurwicz, Leonid, 1973. "The Design of Mechanisms for Resource Allocation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 63(2), pages 1-30, May.
    15. Murrell, Peter & Olson, Mancur, 1991. "The devolution of centrally planned economies," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 239-265, June.
    16. Keren, Michael, 1982. "The ministry, plan changes, and the ratchet in planning," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(4), pages 327-342, December.
    17. Faith, Roger L & Short, Nancy C, 1995. "Bureaucratic Tenure and Economic Performance in Centrally Planned Economies," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 83(1-2), pages 139-157, April.
    18. Ickes, Barry W, 1990. "Do Socialist Countries Suffer a Common Business Cycle?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 72(3), pages 397-405, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Zuzana Brixiov?? & Ale?? Bul??r, 2002. "Growth Slowdown Under Central Planning: A Model of Poor Incentives," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series 448, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    2. Francisca Guedes de Oliveira, 2010. "Evidence on the relation between public capital and Government efficiency," Working Papers de Economia (Economics Working Papers) 01, Católica Porto Business School, Universidade Católica Portuguesa.
    3. Francisca Guedes de Oliveira, 2012. "Empirical Determinants of Government Efficiency: A study Based on Objective Indicators," Working Papers de Economia (Economics Working Papers) 03, Católica Porto Business School, Universidade Católica Portuguesa.
    4. Paul Frijters & Dirk Bezemer & Uwe Dulleck, 2003. "Socialism, Capitalism, and Transition - Coordination of Economic Relations and Output Performance," Paul Frijters Discussion Papers 2003, School of Economics and Finance, Queensland University of Technology.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Brixiova, Zuzana & Bulir, Ales, 2003. "Output performance under central planning: a model of poor incentives," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 27-39, March.
    2. Zuzana Brixiov?? & Ale?? Bul??r, 2002. "Growth Slowdown Under Central Planning: A Model of Poor Incentives," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series 448, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    3. Benford, Frank A., 1998. "On the Dynamics of the Regulation of Pollution: Incentive Compatible Regulation of a Persistent Pollutant," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 1-25, July.
    4. Philippe Gagnepain & Marc Ivaldi & David Martimort, 2013. "The Cost of Contract Renegotiation: Evidence from the Local Public Sector," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(6), pages 2352-2383, October.
    5. Stéphane Auray & Thomas Mariotti & Fabien Moizeau, 2011. "Dynamic regulation of quality," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 42(2), pages 246-265, June.
    6. Jan Boone & Joel Shapiro, 2006. "Selling to consumers with endogenous types," Economics Working Papers 992, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    7. Dirk Bergemann & Alessandro Pavan, 2015. "Introduction to JET Symposium Issue on "Dynamic Contracts and Mechanism Design"," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 2016, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    8. Leonard Kukić, 2021. "The Nature Of Technological Failure: Patterns Of Biased Technical Change In Socialist Europe," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(3), pages 895-925, July.
    9. B. Caillaud & R. Guesnerie & P. Rey & J. Tirole, 1988. "Government Intervention in Production and Incentives Theory: A Review of Recent Contributions," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 19(1), pages 1-26, Spring.
    10. Caillaud, Bernard & Tirole, Jean, 2004. "Essential facility financing and market structure," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(3-4), pages 667-694, March.
    11. Dirk Bergemann & Juuso V‰lim‰ki, 2010. "The Dynamic Pivot Mechanism," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 78(2), pages 771-789, March.
    12. Jac C. Heckelman, 2007. "Explaining the Rain: The Rise and Decline of Nations after 25 Years," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 74(1), pages 18-33, July.
    13. David J. Cooper, 1999. "Gaming against Managers in Incentive Systems: Experimental Results with Chinese Students and Chinese Managers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(4), pages 781-804, September.
    14. Iny Hwang & Youngsoo Kim & Michael K. Lim, 2023. "Optimal Ratcheting in Executive Compensation," Decision Analysis, INFORMS, vol. 20(2), pages 166-185, June.
    15. Devanur, Nikhil R. & Peres, Yuval & Sivan, Balasubramanian, 2019. "Perfect Bayesian Equilibria in repeated sales," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 570-588.
    16. Drew Fudenberg, 2015. "Tirole's Industrial Regulation and Organization Legacy in Economics," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 117(3), pages 771-800, July.
    17. Chemla, Gilles & Faure-Grimaud, Antoine, 1998. "Dynamic adverse selection and debt," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 119154, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    18. Philippe Gagnepain & Marc Ivaldi & David Martimort, 2010. "The renegotiation cost of public transport services contracts," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) hal-00622961, HAL.
    19. Péter Földvári & Bas van Leeuwen & Dmitry Didenko, 2015. "Capital formation and economic growth under central planning and transition: A theoretical and empirical analysis, ca. 1920–2008," Acta Oeconomica, Akadémiai Kiadó, Hungary, vol. 65(1), pages 27-50, March.
    20. Saglam, Ismail, 2017. "The Effect of Observability on the Noncontractible Investment of a Regulated Firm," MPRA Paper 75963, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2001/006. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Akshay Modi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/imfffus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.