This paper first examines various definitions of Kornai's soft budget constraint (SBC) and the difficulties involved in interpreting data on losses, subsidies and financing, and then considers selective evidence from transition economies. Stocks of overdue trade credit are no larger than in...

Ukraine became independent in 1991 and formally abandoned central planning. But the development of market methods of input supply and product distribution was impeded by continuing price distortions and the survival of various methods of administrative commodity allocation from the central...

In the context of Romania's macroeconomic and agricultural transformation, this paper analyses the current extent of the depth of rural finance and discusses the implications for the future development of rural financial markets in Romania. The overall agricultural support system is reviewed...

This paper reviews recent developments and progress in the restructuring of the Russian economy. Great emphasis is placed on industrial policy and creating the necessary legal and regulatory framework to enable the development of new enterprises, markets and the restructuring of existing...

This paper reports on the situation in Russian higher education since the start of transition, and presents a case study of the finance and budgetary arrangements at the University of Tomsk in some detail. It then illustrates some aspects of the situation in Tomsk with reference to four...

This paper focuses on the restructuring of Moldovan industry. Its purpose is to analyse the actual situation, the experience of restructuring and the role that industrial restructuring can play in favouring the process of obtaining economic stability and growth. The central conclusion of this...

Since independence Ukraine has attracted very little foreign direct investment, both in absolute terms, and relative to other transition economies. This is the case when we analyse the ratio of FDI to GDP and exports, and the amount of FDI per capita. This paper examines the causes of the low...

Following the initial shocks associated with the collapse of communism, and the probolems of implementing a broad range of market-oriented reforms, achieving sustained growth requires an economic environment favouring high rates of savings and investment, encouraging for foreign investors, and...

Governments with transitional economies have applied different privatisation methods, from an almost free distribution to the direct sales of state assets. While a free distribution was believed to ensure the political feasibility of the program and its fairness, direct sales, or more generally,...

The paper develops a simple theoretical framework of financial discipline during the stabilization of a transition economy, from which it derives an empirical measure to assess whether the banking sector has started to act as a source of financial discipline, or just as a temporary buffer for...