Re: [PEN-L] the interesting transition of Slovenia

[paul phillips]

The transition process and policies in Slovenia were much more complex 
than implied by Gernot's summary. Not only did the 'privatization' 
process lead to a fair degree of worker ownership, this was supplemented 
by codetermination in industrial relations and a corporatist social 
agreement forced by a strong labour movement such that collective 
agreements cover, effectively, 100 per cent of the labour force. But one 
must add to that a very skillful monetary policy and disincentives to 
foreign investment plus gradualism in market reforms to allow time for 
new institutions to be developed (among other policies) to explain the 
relative success of post-independence Slovenia.

I have tried to outline in detail all of these various policies and 
processes in our recent book "On the Sunny Side of the Alps: Historical, 
political, economic and strategic factors in Independent Slovenia" (with 
Bogomil Ferfila and Anton Grizold of the University of Ljubljana and 
John Loxley of the University of Manitoba.), Ljubljana: Fakulteta za 
Druzbene Vede, 2004, which takes the economic history up to 2003. We are 
in the process of writing a final version culminating in Slovenia's 
entry into the EU.

Paul Phillips
g kohler wrote:
Slovenia, formerly part of Yugoslavia, has a remarkably successful 
economy
and is doing better than most other so-called transition countries in
Central and Eastern Europe.

Question: Why?
Answer (from a recent book “Osterweiterung” by Hofbauer, which provides a
critical analysis of transition experiences): In Slovenia the formerly
state-owned and cooperatively owned enterprises were first offered to the
workers for purchase through some kind of coupon-system. As a result, 
a fair
number of the enterprises are actually worker-owned. Only after the 
workers
had a chance to buy, the foreign investors were allowed to buy. That
prevented a wholesale sell-out of the country’s enterprises to foreign
investors at sell-out prices, as happened in many other so-called 
transition
countries.

Another factor mentioned by Hofbauer is that Slovenia had a fair 
amount of
autonomy within the former Yugoslavia and had economic elites who had
experience in dealing with the West.
GK



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