The role of privatisation in post socialist urban transition: Budapest, Kraków, Prague and Warsaw

This paper, using survey data collected in Budapest, Kraków, Prague and Warsaw, examines how people have reacted to certain aspects of the transition to a market orientated economy in Central and Eastern Europe. It shows, by social class and level of education, which groups are now more likely to be...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:GeoJournal 1999, Vol.49 (1), p.35-42
Main Author: Grime, Keith
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Capitalism
Cities
Communism
Czech Republic
Economic transitions
Employment
Households
Housing
Hungary
Older people
Poland
Post-communist societies
Private sector
Privatization
Public sector
Social classes
Socialism
Statistical analysis
Studies
Transition economies
Unemployment
Urban sociology
Working class
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This paper, using survey data collected in Budapest, Kraków, Prague and Warsaw, examines how people have reacted to certain aspects of the transition to a market orientated economy in Central and Eastern Europe. It shows, by social class and level of education, which groups are now more likely to be working in the state and private sectors and proceeds to an examination of the impact of privatisation on the everyday life of households and families as the state's role in providing essential services has been reduced. Housing tenure is highlighted and it is reported that the rate of privatisation of housing in Budapest has proceeded much faster than in Kraków, Prague or Warsaw. Older people are much more likely to be owner occupiers than the young, as are entrepreneurs and upper white collar employees. The paper also examines the impact of four types of privatisation on households and concludes that in Budapest, except for housing, the impact has been slight, in Prague many claim to have participated in large privatisation through the voucher scheme while in Kraków and Warsaw small privatisation appears to have had the greatest impact.
ISSN:0343-2521
1572-9893
DOI:10.1023/A:1007048504472