In the economic literature the reasons for recession during the transformation of a planned into a market economy are still debated. The following article sets the arguments in this debate against an interpretation of the stylised facts of the transformation process in Central Eastern Europe...

In the context of the ongoing financial and economic crisis reference is frequently made to the Great Depression of the 1930s and fears are voiced that we may have embarked on a similar path. This article looks at the conditions prevailing back then and compares them with the present economic...