Recent literature has focussed on institutional degradation and revenue volatility as major sources of a resource curse. Formerly centrally planned countries may be especially vulnerable due to their mutating institutions and macropolicy inexperience. This paper examines these issues through...

When it dissolved in 1991, the members of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) contained half a billion people (Table 1) - more than either the European Union or NAFTA today - and these countries were largely insulated from the market-driven international economy. This paper...