While liberalizing key factor markets is a crucial step in the transition from a socialist control-economy to a market economy, the process can be stalled by imperfect information, high transaction costs, and covert resistance from entrenched interests. Ravallion and van de Walle study...

In theory it is possible that a vulnerable household will never recover from a sufficiently large but short-lived shock to its income, which could explain the persistent poverty that has emerged in many transition economies. But this study for Hungary shows that, in general, households bounce...

While liberalizing key factor markets is a crucial step in the transition from a socialist control-economy to a market economy, the process can be stalled by imperfect information, high transaction costs, and covert resistance from entrenched interests. Ravallion and van de Walle study...