SAUL ESTRIN is a Professor in Managerial Economics and Strategy and Head of the Department of Management at the London School of Economics, UK. He was previously Professor of Economics at London Business School, UK, where he also served as Adecco Professor of Business and Society, Director of the Centre for New and Emerging Markets, and Deputy Dean (Faculty and Research). Publications include Privatisation in Central and Eastern Europe; Foreign Direct Investment into Transition Economies; Investment Strategies in Emerging Markets, and numerous papers in scholarly journals.

• Introduction; S.Estrin, G.Kolodko & M.Uvalic PART I: THE SOCIALIST LEGACY The Rise and Fall of Socialist Planning; M.Ellman Life Cycle of the Centrally Planned Economy: Why Soviet Growth Rates Peaked in the 1950s; V.Popov Are Transition Economies Normal Developing Countries? The Burden of the Socialist Past; M.Keren & G.Ofer PART II: TRANSITION: FROM SOCIALISM TO CAPITALISM Growth, Initial Conditions and, Law and Speed of Privatization in Transition Countries: 11 Years Later; S.Godoy & J.E.Stiglitz Skills and the Transition; S.Commander Financial Transition in Central and Eastern Europe: A Note; M.de Cecco Investment, Wages and Corporate Governance During the Transition: Evidence from Slovenian Firms; J.Prasnikar & J.Svejnar How Different is Serbia?; M.Uvalic The Search for Identity: Where is Russia Heading?; P.Desai The Effects of Privatization on Company Performance in Belarus; S.Estrin, M.Bakanova, I.Pelipas & S.Pukovich PART III: BEYOND TRANSITION Complexity and Systemic Failure; V.Tanzi Risk Management and Systemic Risk; J.Eatwell Optimal Transition Trajectories?; L.Csaba The Great Post-Communist Change and Uncertain Future of the World; G.W.Kolodko