Diverging Pathways in Central and Eastern Europe

Abstract

In this chapter we analyse the patterns of production regimes in a large sample of countries using the Varieties of Capitalism (VoC) approach. The main focus is on the post-socialist countries from Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, but we also include advanced market economies from Western Europe, North America and Asia for comparative purposes. We begin in the first section by making several constructive comments that place the approach in the broader context of institutional economics. We then analyse some of the relevant patterns in the context of different modes of coordination, following the work of Hall and Gingerich (2004). This analysis shows that the post-socialist countries are spread across the spectrum, reflecting both historical backgrounds and their individual development strategies. The following section elaborates on the industrial relations systems in more detail. A final section contains some further comments and reflections on the VoC approach.