At present, there is no generally accepted accounting of the institutional strengths and weaknesses of the transition economies. The first goal of the paper is to fill this gap by assessing current levels of institutional development. The second is to examine which types of institutional mechanisms make relatively strong contributions. Extensive empirical evidence shows that institutional quality in transition countries is roughly as expected given per capita incomes. Institutions are improving continuously. Given prevailing assumptions that the institutional situation is dismal, the developments giving rise to this surprising finding must be investigated more fully. This investigation begins by cataloging the mechanisms that could have improved institutional indexes. Then, evidence is examined on the relative strengths of each of these mechanisms. Formal institutions have contributed more than informal ones. The largest contributions have come from formal institutions separate from the state administrative structure. Political institutions, legal systems, and independent governmental agencies have been important.
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Paper provided by University of Maryland, Department of Economics in its series Electronic Working Papers with number
03-003.
Length: 35 pages Date of creation: Mar 2003 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:umd:umdeco:03-003
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Find related papers by JEL classification: P5 - Economic Systems - - Comparative Economic Systems K0 - Law and Economics - - General N4 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, and Regulation O57 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Comparative Studies of Countries
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