This paper describes the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) system of trade and payment (the"CMEA regime") and considers how the transition from traditional socialism to a market economy is linked to changes in the mechanism for international transactions. The paper begins with a brief history of the CMEA and a description of its organizational structure, institutional principles, and reform efforts. It then provides a brief statistical overview of the relative importance of CMEA trade to its members. The paper sets out the traditional"institutional model"of the CMEA regime, discusses its defects, and briefly evaluates the CMEA regime. After a description of the events surrounding the CMEA's demise in 1990, the paper concludes with the author's conjectures about the consequences of that demise.
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