This paper analyses the political economy of transition in the Soviet Union since Perestroika. It is argued that no major sequencing errors were made and that important steps were taken in the direction of democratization and the introduction of a private sector. Gorbachev's major error can be...

This paper analyses the tendency for nations to break up as a result of a trade-off between the aggregate efficiency losses from separation and the redistributive gains to the majority, which can occur in all regions, even when there are no transfers across these regions. We show that...

We present a model of large-scale economic reforms, modelled on the transition process in Eastern Europe, with aggregate and individual uncertainty concerning the outcome of reforms. The government is assumed to choose the speed and sequencing of reforms. We compare `big bang' strategies with...

We construct an endogenous growth model that includes a cultural variable along the dimension of individualism-collectivism. The model predicts that more individualism leads to more innovation because of the social rewards associated with innovation in an individualist culture. This cultural...

The twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall saw many reflect on the political, economic and social changes of recent years. The legacy of communism and the economic prospects of post-communist countries are rigorously analysed in this stimulating study of the long term consequences...

With the aim of providing a comprehensive analysis of institutions, and of the global economy more generally, this volume explores systems of institutions and the effect of corruption, developments in behavioural economics, the impact of immigration, and the links between democratic progress and...

The privatization of large state-owned enterprises is one of the most radical policy developments of the last quarter century. Right-wing governments have privatized in an effort to decrease the size of government, while left-wing governments have privatized either to compensate for the failures...