Success and Failure: Emergence of Economic Reforms in Czechoslovakia and Hungary

The market-oriented economic reform of 1967, of which Professor Ota Sik was the main architect, turned out to be a brief episode in the post-war history of Czechoslovakia. On the one hand, it remained a matter of nostalgia for reform-minded economists both in the country and in exile; on the other hand, it continues to be a butt for fierce criticism for those in power since April 1969 up to now, within the country. Was the reform of the late 1960s a move into a blind alley which resulted in a collapse of the economy instead of bringing about the promised improvement in economic performance, or was it a sound set of measures whose successful implementation was only prevented by the foreign intervention?