Although the main responsibility for carrying out economic reforms in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe lies with these countries themselves, the transformation of the Soviet-style economic system into a market economy must be made easier by support from abroad. In this the...

When German unification took place in 1990, the government was optimistic that the process of closing the economic gap between the two Germanies would be a brief one. However, economic unification has turned out to be more costly and much more complex than anticipated. But on the other hand it...

In the countries of Eastern Europe the question as to the degree of currency convertibility is among the most important decisions to be taken when setting the framework for a free market economy. This article attempts to indicate the monetary and fiscal measures that will be required if the...

Privatizing government enterprises is one of the most difficult tasks in the transformation process taking place in the former socialist economies. What contribution do management buy-outs have to make in coping with that task?

The ongoing conversion of the economies of former socialist countries into market economies has so far suffered from the lack of a theory of system transformation (policy) which indicates the means of achieving the desired objectives and makes it possible to evaluate the transformation policies...

The financial systems inherited by post-communist countries are damaging their economic development and make impossible macroeconomic policies aimed both at growth and economic stabilization. This incompatibility is illustrated by recent Polish experiences under both the last communist and the...

The measures taken so far to move towards currency convertibility and combat inflation in Russia and the other CIS countries are based largely on a three-stage programme formulated by the IMF. The following article presents alternatives and compares them with the IMF concept from the point of...

Private investment has a key role to play in the “economic take-off” in Eastern Germany. Can the region attract sufficient investment? What factors stand in the way of a rapid improvement in the quality of the new Länder as a location?

Reforms have to be credible in order to fully reveal the intended positive effects. This important lesson for economies in transition is illustrated by recent experiences in developing countries. The following article discusses several possible ways of enhancing credibility.

In the economic literature the reasons for recession during the transformation of a planned into a market economy are still debated. The following article sets the arguments in this debate against an interpretation of the stylised facts of the transformation process in Central Eastern Europe...