Publication

This paper analyzes privatization and enterprise reform in Poland, Czechoslovakia (subsequently the Czech Republic), and the Soviet Union (subsequently Russia). For each country, the paper discusses the prevailing ideologies of advisors prior to and during the transition process, analyzes the initial conditions faced by reformers and advisors and assesses the policy frameworks that evolved from that. The author concludes that even though privatization could have been done better, the countries discussed were still better off after they had carried out the privatizations than they would have been had they avoided or delayed divestiture.