An Interview with János Kornai

Abstract

Most of us are armchair economists. Whether our opinions are right or wrong, we can proffer them at little personal cost—the most we can lose is our reputation. Not so for János Kornai. For much of his life, speaking freely would have led him to land in jail, or worse. He faced a difficult choice. He could publish illegally, take the samizdat route, but reach a very small number of readers. He could instead respect a number of official taboos, publish legally, and reach a much wider readership. These difficulties have not prevented him from giving us the most informed and deepest critique of the socialist system to date. This interview is, I hope, successful in showing the degree to which Kornai's life and work have been intertwined, and how he came to believe what he believes today. Kornai is sharing his time between Harvard and Collegium Budapest. The interview took place in my office when I was visiting Harvard University in June 1998.