Barriers to Entry and Growth of New Firms in Early Transition : A Comparative Study of Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Albania and Lithuania

This book is about barriers to entry in early transition. It analyses the barriers faced by new private firms in five countries at different stages of transition: the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland as the front-runners of the process, and Albania and Lithuania which followed them later. It is now well established that the new private firm sector is the engine of growth in transition economies. But the entry of new firms is closely related to the nature of the existing regulatory and fiscal framework, specifically the registration and licensing requirements, rules on sale or lease of real estate, export and import regulations, and taxes and contributions. These barriers invariably lead entrepreneurs to conduct some or all of their business outside the official economy or, in some cases, discourage them from entry altogether