The basic question treated by the articles in this book is under which conditions the post-socialist economies can successfully integrate themselves into the world market and avoid peripherisation as a result of their economic reforms.

The volume deals very concretly with the imperatives that follow for the Visegrad countries, which are a common external trade policy in central and eastern Europe and a postponement of EU membership. The change of ownership of state-owned enterprises, though, is not as important as is usually assumed for improving the firms' efficiency. Instead, providing for the emergence of capital markets should be a priority with respect of resolving the bad asset problem as precondition for structural change.

The volume also investigates new perspectives for post-socialist economies. The articles focus particularly on issues of institutional change. The perspective of the authors is in accordance with a widespread critique of the shortcomings and deficiencies which have resulted from early strategies of imitating western institutions. The authors analyse rules for decision-making within the firm, institutions of social policy, institutional requirements of trade and economic integration, and the role of financial institutions in stabilising the economy and promoting investment.