ABSTRACT
This chapter explains how the US state shapes economic governance by manipulating and enforcing property rights and then extends the analysis to the development of post-socialist societies. It begins the concept of property rights and specifies how different types of property rights affect the governance of economic activity. Property rights actions influenced the transformation of governance regimes in various sectors of the US economy. Governance regimes are combinations of specific organizational forms, including markets, corporate hierarchies, associations, and networks that coordinate economic activity among organizations in an industry or economic sector. Regardless of the desired institutional goals, creating the appropriate mix of property rights is tricky business. The current debate in Eastern Europe about building post socialist economies focuses almost entirely on how to transform governance arrangements by altering property rights that cover ownership of the means of production. Governance transformations are typically initiated by actors who respond to changes in markets, technology, and conditions in their environment, including political ones.
