The Post-communist Transition at 30

In the 30 years since the fall of communism, the countries of the former Soviet bloc and Yugoslavia have undergone tremendous change. Income per capita at purchasing power parity more than tripled in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Slovakia. All seven economies outpaced such celebrated growth engines as Singapore and Korea at the same stage of their development. But in Tajikistan and Ukraine average income fell relative to 1989. In Moldova and the Kyrgyz Republic income growth was modest, below 20 percent cumulatively. We test three theories on this divergence in income growth. We find that Orthodox countries and countries with less democratic accountability grow less.

Download