Introduction

Abstract

Transition economies in Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs) and the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), currently known as the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), have undergone considerable transformation since 1989–91. After the recession of the early 1990s, some of these economies experienced GDP recovery at a different pace and with different outcomes in terms of economic growth and social performance (that is, human development, employment, poverty and inequality). Human development, defined as a process of enlarging people’s choices that is achieved by expanding human capabilities and functioning (UNDP, 1990), has worsened in some transition economies. This has been largely ignored by the economic transition literature. The level of life expectancy, one of the most important features of the Human Development Index (HDI), worsened. Moreover, extreme diversity and fragility in the performance of the main economic variables such as GDP growth, public debt, trade balance and inflation are evident, although economic policies advised by international organisations and implemented by national authorities are quite similar.