Quality Aspects of Economic Transition: The Effect of Inferior Quality on the Market
Quality Aspects of Economic Transition: The Effect of Inferior Quality on the Market

Summary/Abstract: The paper explores the quality problem as a major challenge before transitional economies. It uses Akerlof’s model of misrepresented quality in an attempt to study it as the reason for market failure in the new democracies. The determinants of poor quality in the region of Eastern Europe are presented and the role of opportunism as the major cause of deceptive quality is revealed in the context of the staggering transaction costs East European countries are faced with. Reputation and the costs of dishonesty for East European producers are discussed.

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