The restructuring process of formerly state-owned enterprises, including dismissal of excess labor, has been slow. Since the recovery of transition economies depends on the restructured sector, a convincing take-off has been delayed. Many arguments have been forwarded to explain the low...

Soft budget constraints (SBCs) are a persistent feature of transition economies and have been blamed for i.a. a lack of fiscal consolidation and sluggish growth. EU eastward enlargement has - among other things - been conditioned on tackling SBCs. This paper analyzes such outside conditionality...

Governments of transition economies are subject to a fiscal constraint (e.g. credit constraints). However, exaggerated fiscal discipline might feed into the structural adjustment process. The government designs and times the privatisation programme yet may find itself in a fiscal squeeze,...