Fifteen years ago, twenty-seven countries in Europe and Central Asia embarked on their economic transition paths. For some, the outcome was a considerable success. Several others are still struggling to shed the inheritance of the past and to correct more recent policy mistakes. Why were post-Communist recessions so long in some countries and growth disappointing? Why was fiscal performance so different? Was democracy a factor, which facilitated reforms or rather slowed them down? This book discusses these questions in the context of new empirical evidence, including a critical examination of the main themes in the economics of transition.

Introduction
PART I: WHAT HAPPENED?
The Old Regime and the Opening Balance of Transition
The Transition Programme: Interdependence between the Key Components
Stabilisation
Privatisation: The Trade-offs between Speed, Efficiency and Distribution
Unemployment Paths and Restructuring
PART II: WHY? NEW EMPIRICAL RESULTS
Post-Communist Recessions Re-examined
Liberalisation and Public Finance
The Order of Financial Liberalisation
Democracy and Reforms
Economic Growth
Final Remarks

TOMASZ MAREK MICKIEWICZ co-ordinates the Centre for the Study of Economic and Social Change in Europe and is also Senior Lecturer in Economic Restructuring at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies at University College London, UK. He is an affiliate of the CASE Institute and publishes on comparative economic systems. His previous book was on Unemployment in Transition with Janice Bell.