Leaders and Laggards

Abstract

Which nations have done best,and which worst, in the European growth race? The overall picture is summed up in the tables on p.35. International comparisons in this field are very difficult, and when one is comparing systems as different as those of western and eastern Europe the possibilities of error and misinterpretation are legion. The figures in the tables should therefore be regarded as indicating orders of magnitude rather than precise evaluation — particularly in comparing the western and eastern bloc performances as a whole. For this reason, it is sensible to analyse performances first within the one bloc and then within the other, rather than to attempt detailed comparisons between countries in different blocs.