Recent research (re)emphasizing the role of the state and the institutional perspective generally neglects socialist economies. At the same time, feminist studies on migration rarely focus on mobility in transitional contexts. Informed by these two bodies of literature, this paper examines how the post-Mao state in China has fostered a migrant labor regime and the incorporation of young, single...

In paying open attention to the features of demand as an endogenous market element, thus downplaying the decisive role of supply technology, Austrian theory constitutes a deviant from economics’ mainstream. Still it is obvious that customer impact is not a key concern for a market process view that sees entrepreneurial efforts as mostly originating with the seller. To remedy this shortcoming ti...

The concepts of transition and tradition have not been the object of much original theoretical work in recent Anglophone socio-cultural anthropology. The term transition has been applied loosely to the demise of socialist regimes in Eastern Europe and their replacement by market economies and more pluralist forms of government. However, these objectives have proved elusive and most anthropologi...

Transitions from state socialism generated a startling array of early economic outcomes, ranging from severe economic crises to steady economic growth, and igniting debates about the causal role of policy choices, institutional design, and initial economic circumstances. We depart from prior explanations in two ways. First, we distinguish between causes of initial recessions and causes of varia...

Abstract In many low-income transition countries, where formal institutions such as courts do not function effectively, informal are often used by firms to minimize transaction risks. We examine the role of institutions, in forms relational contracting and social networks, determining risks that willing bear their transactions with suppliers customers, whether have higher productivity. Our coun...