Abstract
This article examines the Šik Reform, a major but ultimately unfinished attempt to modernize the centrally planned economy of Czechoslovakia in the 1960s. It situates the reform within the broader political and economic developments of the decade, additionally providing a highlight of the failure of the Third Five-Year Plan and the shift toward a more market-responsive model of socialist management. The study focuses on enterprise autonomy, the limits of central planning, and the evolving role of reform-minded economists. Using statistical data and period documents, it analyzes both the implementation of the reform and its gradual rollback following the 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion. The article concludes with an outlook on the reform’s intended direction and sets the stage for a deeper exploration of its institutional and legislative dimensions in the second part.
Keywords
- Šik Reform
- economic planning
- socialist economy
- Czechoslovakia
- 1960s
- economic reform