TY  - JOUR
AU  - Fischer,Stanley
AU  - Sahay,Ratna
TI  - The Transition Economies After Ten Years
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 7664
PY  - 2000
Y2  - April 2000
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w7664
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w7664.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Stanley Fischer
Governor
Bank of Israel
One Kaplan Street
Jerusalem 91007
ISRAEL
Tel: 9722-655-2701
Fax: 9722-652-8419
E-Mail: sfischer@bankisrael.gov.il

Ratna Sahay
E-Mail: rsahay@imf.org
AB  - While output declined in virtually all transition economies in the initial years, the speed and extent of the recovery that followed has varied widely across these countries. The contrast between the more and less successful transitions, the latter largely in the former Soviet Union, raises many questions about the relative roles played by adverse initial conditions, external factors, and reform strategies. This paper summarizes the macroeconomic performance of the transition economies.  We first review the initial conditions confronting these economies, the reform strategy that was proposed, and the associated controversies that arose a decade ago. We then account for the widely different outcomes, highlighting the role of exogenous factors and the macroeconomic and structural policies adopted by the countries. We find that both stabilization policies and structural reforms, particularly privatization, contributed to the growth recovery. We also conclude that the faster is the speed of reforms, the quicker is the recovery and the higher is growth.
ER  -