J NOS KORNAI is at Harvard University, USA, and the Central European University and Collegium, Budapest, Hungary. L SZL M TY S is at Central European University, Hungary. G RARD ROLAND is at the University of California, Berkeley, USA.

• Introduction; J.Kornai, L.Mátyás & G.Roland The Great Transformation of Central-Eastern Europe: Success and Disappointment; J.Kornai Transformation in China; Y.Qian & J.Wu Institutional Causes of Economic Underdevelopment in the Middle East: An Historical Perspective; T.Kuran Understanding the Great Changes in the World: Gaining Ground and Losing Ground since World War II; E.S.Phelps The Schumpeterian Approach to Education and Growth; P.Aghion Analyzing Institutional Change; M .Aoki Fast-Moving and Slow-Moving Institutions; G.Roland The Endowment Effect and the Origin of Private Property; H.Gintis The Complex Evolution of a Simple Traffic Convention: The Functions and Implications of Habit; G.M.Hodgson & T.Knudsen Implications of Behavioural Game Theory for Neoclassical Economic Theory; H.Gintis A Little Behavioralism Can Go a Long Way; K.Binmore & J.Swierzbinski