Inefficiencies in agriculture in Eastern and Central Europe and the Soviet Union contributed to the financial collapse of the socialist system. Yet during the transition, agricultural production has declined. Low profits, high real interest rates, slow progress in reforms in some countries, and...

Reform in the transitional economies can be characterized by large falls in agricultural output and by strong decapitalization of the agricultural production system. A key factor has been the disruption caused by the breakup of the pre-reform, vertically integrated, centrally planned,...