Growth in Transition: What We Know, What We Don't, and What We Should

Abstract

This essay surveys macroeconomic issues that marked the transition from planned to market economy in Central and Eastern European and former Soviet Union countries. We first establish stylized facts of the transition so far. We then critically survey the theoretical literature on transition, discussing explanations for the initial output fall, and mediumterm issues such as optimal speed of transition, disorganization, institutions and sectoral reallocation as source of output dynamics. We review the empirical literature to assess how well it translates the theoretical models and explains the stylized facts. We conclude with suggestions for future research.