The study analyses the effects of transition on the amount and patterns of alcohol consumption. We test the hypothesis of how far negative experiences induced by the collapse of the Soviet Union have led to drinking in the young generation of Ukrainians. We use data coming from the Ukrainian...

Much empirical research has highlighted the importance of institutions and initial conditions in the transition to a market economy. However, relatively little is still know about how these factors directly affect growth paths. This paper explores how institutional factors and initial conditions...

An alarming drop in population numbers has been observed in many of the transitional countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Bloc since the collapse of communism in the region. This paper documents the extent and causes of the crisis. The author finds wanting the currently fashionable...

The differences in income distribution between market and planned economies are considered in two ways. First, using benchmarks from the OECD area, evidence from the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union during the socialist period is reviewed. Second, the authors...

The collapse of communism in East Germany took place alongside unification with its democratic neighbour, West Germany. This made the East German experience of the ‘transition’ - from the planned to the free-market economy - unique among that of the post-socialist states. On the one hand,...

This paper looks at how the transition from the planned to the free market economy has altered the nature of state protective child care provision in Central and Eastern Europe. The old systems were run according to an underlying state ideology that stressed an insensitive ‘medical model’ of...

This Innocenti Insight looks at how children with disabilities and their families have fared in the rapidly changing environment of this region since transition in the early 1980’s. It builds upon the significant body of research and policy reflections accrued at the UNICEF Innocenti Research...