During the early years of transition output fell dramatically in almost all transitioneconomies. However, the Uzbek experience was an exception to this rule. Outputfell only slightly, soon to be followed by small but positive and persistent economicgrowth. This extraordinary performance, known...

Credit shortages are widely thought to explain the output contraction in former Soviet Union (FSU) countries during the 1990s. It is argued here that these shortages were the result of an ahistorical approach to policymaking which ignored the time needed for the establishment and further...