Archive for October, 2009

[Source: flickr.com Image by sludgegulper Some rights reserved]

According to the International Monetary Fund (2000) the following economies can be categorised as making the transition from command to free market economies in recent history.

Transition economies in Europe and the former Soviet Union

CEE
Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, FYR Macedonia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia

Baltics  
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania

CIS
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan

Transition economies in Asia

Cambodia, China, Laos, Vietnam

Source: Transition Economies: An IMF Perspective on Progress and Prospects  (2000)

Use your text book and the web to find out what a transition economy is in theory. Then, having selected one of the above, work in a pair to research a real life transition economy. Your 3 specific goals are to:

1) Evaluate how well the economy fits the general theory behind transition economies. Make sure you use headings from the theory to structure this aspect of your research.

2) Evaluate the impact of the transition on different stakeholders (groups of people) – for example: firms, low income groups, high income groups, other nations, the government.

3) Evaluate the transition in terms of both the short term and long term consequences on that economy.

A very tongue-in-cheek comic take on transition economies can be seen here:

Free Market Economy