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Unemployment in Central and Eastern Europe: East Meets West

  • Conference paper
Fighting Europe’s Unemployment in the 1990s

Abstract

In his book Economic Behavior in Adversity, Hirshleifer (1987) describes the remarkable recovery of both Germany and Japan after severe bombing damage sustained during World War II. In particular, he makes note of the similar experiences in Hiroshima and Hamburg, which according to allied bombing reports were destroyed to considerably different degrees. His central conclusion from this experience as well as other catastrophic events over the past millennium is that the stock of human knowledge and talents is more decisive for rapid recovery from economic adversity than the lack of physical equipment and structures. In the words of Marshall, “the most valuable of capital is that invested in human beings.”

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Authors
  1. Michael C. Burda
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Kiel Institute of World Economics, P.O Box 4309, D-24100, Kiel, Germany

    Herbert Giersch (Past President) (Past President)

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© 1996 Springer-Verlag Berlin · Heidelberg

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Burda, M.C. (1996). Unemployment in Central and Eastern Europe: East Meets West. In: Giersch, H. (eds) Fighting Europe’s Unemployment in the 1990s. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-61134-6_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-61134-6_9

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-64710-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-61134-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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