THE APPLICABILITY OF STANDARD REFORM PACKAGES TO EASTERN-EUROPE

This paper argues that a knowledge of the characteristics of Soviet-type economies could have led to the better application of stabilization and reform packages for economies in transition. Among these characteristics, excess inventories, enterprise behavior, and structural deformations are discussed. Knowledge of these characteristics would not have eliminated all negative consequences of reforms, such as the decline in output, but it would have provided policymakers an opportunity to prepare the public for developments during the early years of the transition. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.