Why did the attempts to realise the project of collectivist modernisation fail? This book, written within the framework of Mod-Block-DDR, explores this question by examining the development of economic thinking in the GDR and Poland. The authors Hans-Jürgen Wagener, Maciej Tymiński and Piotr Koryś explain the growing retardation of the two national economies with barriers to modernisation that resulted primarily from Soviet influence.

A comprehensive work has been produced with the co-operation of Udo Ludwig and Knut Richter that promises new insights into the economic history of the GDR and Poland. The history of ideas places the concepts of East German and Polish economists in their historical, political and institutional context. The book is therefore not only recommended for historians, but also for economists and political scientists.