ABSTRACT
In the debate about who is “winning” under rural market reform, this study provides a novel perspective in two ways. My analytic focus is on the village-as-community, whereas most studies of market transition are solely concerned with which types of individuals and households are benefiting from the new institutions of post-socialism. 1 Because of the distinct impact that village-level factors have upon village residents, I argue that as units of analysis, villages (communities) make up an extremely critical, though rarely discussed, dimension of this debate. The other, more important, point is that this question can be pushed further back in time. Transition studies are concerned with comparing who was doing well under the command economy and who is doing well in the aftermath.
