This book brings together ten original studies on the transition and growth experience and the foundations for long-term growth of the newly independent states created by the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Beginning with an overview of the common pre-1992 background and comparative information on the post-1992 performance of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries, the authors continue by reviewing the Soviet background and post-independence experience. They then emphasise both the uniformity and diversity of the twelve CIS countries' recent history. The problem of explaining economic growth in transition economies is also explored, and individual in-depth country studies are presented. The contributors to the book are a combination of in-country researchers with in-depth local knowledge and access to data, and international economists with technical expertise and experience of long-term growth in other countries. This approach ensures the book's appeal to academics and researchers of economic growth, transition and comparative economics. Economists assigned to the region or any individual CIS country will find the analysis invaluable.

Originally published in 1992, this book provides a detailed analysis of the economics of the Soviet urban household sector during the 1970s. It contains eight studies covering the size and distribution of incomes and wealth, the incidence and causes of poverty, the labour supply of women, division of labour among household members, and saving behaviour. Ofer and Vinokur conclude that socialist achievements in the sphere of economic equality were rather modest. They also show that, even under the peculiar conditions imposed on Soviet households by the socialist system, they responded to economic constraints in a way that is predictable by ordinary Western-type models of household behaviour. It will be an invaluable reference source for specialists of Soviet studies, comparative economics, income distribution and women's studies as well as for government officials and journalists.

Originally published in 1992, this book provides a detailed analysis of the economics of the Soviet urban household sector during the 1970s. It contains eight studies covering the size and distribution of incomes and wealth, the incidence and causes of poverty, the labour supply of women, division of labour among household members, and saving behaviour. Ofer and Vinokur conclude that socialist achievements in the sphere of economic equality were rather modest. They also show that, even under the peculiar conditions imposed on Soviet households by the socialist system, they responded to economic constraints in a way that is predictable by ordinary Western-type models of household behaviour. It will be an invaluable reference source for specialists of Soviet studies, comparative economics, income distribution and women's studies as well as for government officials and journalists.

The service sector represents a smaller share of the national economy in the Soviet Union than in other countries at similar levels. This gap is found in trade, in private and business services, and, surprisingly, in public administration. Gur Ofer provides a twofold examination of this phenomenon. He uses cross country comparisons to study the "normal" relationships between the size of the service institutions and economic development. At the same time he investigates specific factors operating in Socialist and Soviet countries, thus uniting the special Soviet case with general development theory.

The still chaotic states of the former Soviet Union, a growing China, and the divergent nations of Eastern Europe are striving to radically transform their economies. In their quest to become more integrated with the global economy, they are making historic changes to move toward market-based, private-enterprise systems. In this book, Barry P. Bosworth and Gur Ofer provide a balanced assessment of the progress of integration among the formerly centrally planned economies. So far, the results of the reform process range from amazing success in China to economic and political disarray in the states of the former Soviet Union. The authors outline the key issues that any successful reform program must address and the sequence in which these reforms should take place.

A volume of Brookings' Integrating National Economies Series