In many respects, the specifically Chinese way of transition from the planned to the market economy contradicts conventional wisdom of economics. This paper proposes an institutionalist explanation of the seeming paradox, which starts out from the structural diversity of the Chinese economy and...

Why did the socialist system that dominated Eastern European countries for much of the 20th century collapse around 1990? Drawing on the newly released wiiw COMECON Dataset and reports that the wiiw was publishing at that time, we explore whether the collapse was due to unfixable systemic flaws...

As a result of the program of social, political, and economic reforms called doi moi" (meaning renovation) implemented by the Communist Party in 1986, market forces have been allowed to operate in Vietnam subject to state supervision. The centerpiece of doi moi has been to attract foreign...

Hungary launched its first Technology Foresight Programme (TEP) in 1997. This was a holistic foresight programme, based on panel activities and a large-scale Delphi survey, with a strong emphasis on socio-economic needs. The paper discusses why a foresight exercise is relevant to a transition...

The paper analyses the 20-year experience with transition in the SEE countries in a comparative framework, illustrating how these countries encountered difficulties in its implementation, despite having some of the best starting conditions in 1989 to implement a swift transition to a market...

This paper summarizes the role of entrepreneurship in the East German transformation process that followed the breakdown of the socialist regime and subsequent unification with West Germany. The main aim of this exercise is to derive conclusions and recommendations for a potential unification of...

Transition to market economy in European soviet socialist countries was not expected even in late 1980s. Beliefs gravitated around the building of a "socialism with human face" - "glasnost", "perestroika" etc., but not around building of market economy. Views changed slowly and political steps...