Úloha štátu v tranzitívnej ekonomike: vybrané mikroekonomické aspekty
THE ROLE OF THE STATE IN TRANSITIONAL ECONOMIES: SELECTED MICROECONOMIC ISSUES

Summary/Abstract: An examination of the role of the state (government) in the economy is a very fre-quent issue at numbers of public economics and public finance discussions. However, no common agreement on economic functions of the state in the developed market econ-omy has yet been achieved. There exist several, from some points of view contrary, approaches – we could mention the classical theory, based on ideas of Adam Smith, and the activist approach, characterised by the theories of John Maynard Keynes, among many others. Because of this, and because of the extremely specific environment of transitional processes in countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the examination of the role of the state in transition is a necessary, if very complicated, issue. The role of the state in transitional economies is in some principles similar, but in others quite different, from what standard theory describes in the case of developed market (mixed) economies. The transitional state has two very important functions in the process of socio-economic transformation – to be manager of the transformation process and to transform itself into a modern 21. century state. From these, manage-ment of transition from a centrally planned to mixed economy is something new, never described in theory and never realised in practice. The second, reform of systems of public administration, is the „theme of the day“ in each developed economy, but with limited concrete improvements and no patterns that may simply be transferred to the conditions of the transitional state. Because of this, realisation of the functions of the state during transition is very complicated process with uncertain results. The specific environment of transitional countries, where all most important players of the „transi-tion game“ do not „play“ as expected (compared to western patterns and models), may cause a number of different and unexpected solutions and results. What are the basic specific features of the transitional economy? To describe them, we may analyse the behaviour of the main „players“ – the bureaucracy, politicians, entrepreneurs and citizens.

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