Economies in transition : the long-run view /

This collection provides comprehensive descriptions and analyses of the transition from a communist/central planning economy to a market system, between 1989 and 2010, in Russia, the former Soviet republics, eastern and southeastern Europe, the Baltic States, and Central Asia. The volume's 15 chapters are written by 23 contributors, 6 of whom are associated with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the others with academic institutions in nine different countries. Chapters are updated versions of papers presented at a 2009 conference in Helsinki. The thematic emphasis is on explaining the steps these countries took in transforming their political systems and institutional structures, and the relevance of those transformations for economic system reform. The volume's strengths include the quite detailed, country-specific explanations of how the initial level of economic development, previously existing trade relations, geographic location, and development of international relations (e.g., with the World Bank, the IMF, the European Union) affected, positively or negatively, the transition process. Many tables; figures; extensive chapter-end bibliographies. A valuable work for economists and political scientists interested in the transformation of the former Soviet bloc. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and up. H. D. Renning emeritus, California State University, Stanislaus