Investment funds play a key role in mass privatization in many transition economies. But have they lived up to expectations? The authors look at that question in the two earliest and best-known cases--Russia and the Czech Republic. The evidence is discouraging. It appears that the funds have...

This paper studies the design of law-making and law enforcement institutions based on the premise that law is inherently incomplete. Under incomplete law, law enforcement by courts may suffer from deterrence failure, defined as the socialwelfare loss that results from the regime's inability to...

This paper analyses changes in the legal protection of shareholder and creditor rights in 24 transition economies from 1990 to 1998. It documents differences in the initial conditions and a tendency towards convergence of formal legal rules as the result of extensive legal reforms. Convergence...