Originally published in 1987, this book brings together leading authorities from Germany and the USA who analyze how the East German economy actually operated - planning and management, pricing, investment and innovation, the financial system, agriculture and foreign trade (including the special concessions granted by the then Federal Republic of Germany). The volume is an insightful study of one of the least studied and most successful of socialist economies.

1. The GDR in Historical and International Perspective Ian Jeffries 2. Command Planning and the Production Unit Ian Jeffries and Manfred Melzer 3. The New Economic System of Planning and Management 1963-70 and Recentralisation in the 1970s Ian Jeffries and Manfred Melzer 4. The Economic Strategy of the 1980s and the Limits to Possible Reforms Ian Jeffries and Manfred Melzer 5. The Kombinant in GDR Economic Organisation Phillip J. Bryson and Manfred Melzer 6. The 1981-85 Order of Planning (Planungsordnung) Manfred Tröder 7. The Perfecting of the Planning and Steering Mechanisms Manfred Melzer 8. Product and Process Renewal in GDR Economic Strategy: Goals, Problems and Prospects Manfred Melzer and Arthur A. Stahnke 9. The Prcing System of the GDR: Principles and Problems Manfred Melzer 10. The GDR Financial System Hannsjörg F. Buck 11. Agriculture Konrad Merkel 12. The Foregin Trade and Payments of the GDR in a Chaning World Economy Hanns-Dieter Jacobsen 13. The Role of the GDR in Comcon: Some Economic Aspects Werner Klein 14. Economic Reform in the GDR: Causes and Effects Hannelore Hamel and Helmut Leipold