Tiivistelmä.

To date, the record of economic transition has decidedly been mixed. The worldwide political climate is still in favor of economic reform and the process continues to have considerable momentum. On the other hand, this process now faces a number of formidable obstacles. There appears to be general agreement that in many countries the promise of a better standard of living which economic transition offers to the mass of the citizenry has failed to produce the rapid and dramatic results hoped for. There is an increasing conflict of interest between multinational firms and the national business community. Moreover, many transition economies have experienced a slowing of economic growth in real terms and social services have been severely cut.This book deals with the development of those forces that have played a major role in the successes and failures of economic transition. Its distinctive feature is that it does this from the perspective of economic, political and social analysis, taking into account both theoretical constructs and economic realities for those countries which have attempted the grand experiment with economic transition.

This book contains 21 papers focusing on a wide range of issues concerning financial sector transition in the countries of Europe and Central Asia (ECA). It places the transition economies in the context of recent and prospective developments in global financial markets. This book also evaluates the experience of the last 10 years and reviews the progress from a command financial system to a market-based one, identifying some of the key characteristics of the financial transition.

This collection examines the design of financial systems for central and eastern European countries engaged in the transition to market-based economies. It highlights the need for better approaches to measuring performance and providing incentives in banking and for financial mechanisms to encourage private-sector growth. Written by leading European and North American scholars, the essays apply modern finance theory and empirical data to the development of new financial sectors.

The book, the first time, critically evaluates the evolution of both equity and securities markets in transition economies.

A transition economy is an economy which is changing from a planned economy to a free market. Transition economies undergo economic liberalisation (letting market forces set prices and lowering trade barriers), macroeconomic stabilisation where immediate high inflation is brought under control, and restructuring and privatisation in order to create a financial sector and move from public to private ownership of resources. These changes often may lead to increased inequality of incomes and wealth, dramatic inflation and a fall of GDP. Transition process is usually characterised by the changing and creating of institutions, particularly private enterprises; changes in the role of the state, thereby, the creation of fundamentally different governmental institutions and the promotion of private-owned enterprises, markets and independent financial institutions. This new book presents the latest research from around the world in this field.

Modern development strategy relies heavily on uncompromising orthodox economic theory and a dogmatic faith in market efficiency. In contrast, the essays in this volume aim to emphasize the importance of historic experiences to evolve a more realistic and dynamic view of how such development could be formalized.