What Have We Learned from Post-Communist Transitions?
47 Pages Posted: 25 Aug 2012
Date Written: July 11, 2012
Abstract
This paper provides a critical review of the literature on economic transitions in Central and Eastern Europe, highlighting their relevance to current economic and political changes in other parts of the world. It outlines the debate between the proponents of rapid and wholesale reforms – also known as the ‘Washington consensus’ – and the advocates of an approach that stresses the importance of institutional foundations that need to predate any moves towards liberalisation and privatisation. In the second part of this paper, we provide an alternative approach towards understanding economic transitions, which emphasises the role played by epistemic and public choice constraints.
Keywords: transition, shock therapy, gradualism, institutions, dispersed knowledge
JEL Classification: P2, P3, O16
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation