IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cmn/journl/y2019i1p23-43.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Functioning of the Quasi-Labor Market under Socialism: Clash between Ideology and Reality

Author

Listed:
  • Lucie Coufalová

    (Masaryk Universit, Faculty of Economics and Administration)

  • Libor Žídek

    (Masaryk University, Faculty of Economics and Administration)

Abstract

Based on the interviews with that time managers, the paper aims to find out whether ideology affected the dealing with labor force in the last two decades of the socialist regime in Czechoslovakia. Technically, the labor market was balanced and characterized by zero unemployment and low and highly equalized wages. However, actually, there was a permanent imbalance with the lasting dominance of demand over supply and overemployment. Increasing wages was, due to ideological and formal settings of the system nearly impossible, and thus the economic agents tried to find alternative ``solutions'' to this imbalance. This situation led to low motivation of the labor force and consequently to low productivity. The positive side was represented by relatively good relationships among the employees. We demonstrate on the interviews that in the clash between ideology and the market forces, the former was stronger and in fact prevented efficient functioning of the labor market.

Suggested Citation

  • Lucie Coufalová & Libor Žídek, 2019. "Functioning of the Quasi-Labor Market under Socialism: Clash between Ideology and Reality," DANUBE: Law and Economics Review, European Association Comenius - EACO, issue 1, pages 23-43, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:cmn:journl:y:2019:i:1:p:23-43
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.eaco.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/coufalova-zidek.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gros,Daniel & Steinherr,Alfred, 2004. "Economic Transition in Central and Eastern Europe," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521826389, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Delia Popescu & Iulia Monica Oehler-Sincai & Daniel Bulin & Ion Alexandru Tanase, 2018. "Cee-16: A Cluster Analysis Based on Tourism Competitiveness and Correlations With Major Determinants," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 20(S12), pages 833-833, November.
    2. Tomasz Marek Mickiewicz & Anna Zalewska, 2005. "De-industrialisation and the post-communist transition: Rowthorn and Wells' model revisited," UCL SSEES Economics and Business working paper series 59, UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES).
    3. Tomasz Mickiewicz, 2009. "Hierarchy of governance institutions and the pecking order of privatisation: Central-Eastern Europe and Central Asia reconsidered," Post-Communist Economies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(4), pages 399-423.
    4. Nick Ridley, 2007. "Financial Crime Trends In Central And Eastern Europe," Economic Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(1), pages 22-26, March.
    5. Olexa, Michal, 1999. "Analysis and Econometric Modelling of the Fiscal Sector in the Slovak Republic," Transition Economics Series 2, Institute for Advanced Studies.
    6. Oleh Havrylyshyn, 2008. "Growth Recovery in CIS Countries: The Sufficient Minimum Threshold of Reforms," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 50(1), pages 53-78, March.
    7. Mathilde Maurel & Hugo Lapeyronie & Bogdan Meunier, 2016. "Impact of hard and soft infrastructure: Evidence from the EU partners, North Africa and CEECs," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) hal-01396058, HAL.
    8. repec:zbw:bofitp:2007_019 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Kowalski, Tadeusz, 2013. "Globalization and Transformation in Central European Countries: The Case of Poland," MPRA Paper 59306, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Jarosław Kaczmarek, 2022. "The Balance of Outlays and Effects of Restructuring Hard Coal Mining Companies in Terms of Energy Policy of Poland PEP 2040," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-30, March.
    11. Gerard Rpland, 2001. "The Political Economy of Transition," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series 413, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    12. Iorgulescu Polimeni, Raluca & Polimeni, John M., 2007. "Multi-Scale Integrated Analysis of Societal Metabolism and Jevons’ Paradox for Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Poland," Journal for Economic Forecasting, Institute for Economic Forecasting, vol. 4(4), pages 61-76, December.
    13. László Szerb & William Trumbull, 2015. "Entrepreneurship and transition in the European transition countries," ERSA conference papers ersa15p669, European Regional Science Association.
    14. Tullio Buccellato & Tomasz Marek Mickiewicz, 2007. "Oil and gas: a blessing for few hydrocarbons and within-region inequality in Russia," UCL SSEES Economics and Business working paper series 80, UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES), revised Feb 2008.
    15. Ruta Aidis & Saul Estrin & Tomasz Mickiewicz, 2012. "Size matters: entrepreneurial entry and government," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 39(1), pages 119-139, July.
    16. Karsten Staehr, 2016. "Exchange Rate Policies in the Baltic States: From Extreme Inflation to Euro Membership," CESifo Forum, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 16(04), pages 09-18, January.
    17. Dirk Bezemer & Uwe Dulleck & Paul Frijters, 2003. "Socialism, Capitalism, and Transition-Coordination of Economic Relations and Output Performance," Vienna Economics Papers 0305, University of Vienna, Department of Economics.
    18. Neil Foster-McGregor & Robert Stehrer, 2005. "Modelling GDP in CEECs Using Smooth Transitions," wiiw Working Papers 36, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw.
    19. Hexian Wang & Wei Liu & Mengyuan Zhu & Qing Wang, 2018. "Embrace or Not? An Empirical Study of the Impact of Globalization on the Country’s Sustainability in the Case of NAFTA," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-16, September.
    20. Ansgar Belke & Albina Zenkić, 2007. "Exchange-rate Regimes and the Transition Process in the Western Balkans," Intereconomics: Review of European Economic Policy, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics;Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), vol. 42(5), pages 267-280, September.
    21. Christian Amplatz, 2003. "The Economic Convergence Performance of Central and Eastern European Countries," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 36(4), pages 273-295, December.

    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:cmn:journl:y:2019:i:1:p:23-43. 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: Helena Campbelle (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.eaco.eu .

    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.