An Economic Comparison of Post-Communist States to Others in Europe

Abstract

Communism fell in Europe in 1989, making it necessary for European countries that had been communist to transition to market-based systems and more democratic regimes in the years following. It has been over 25 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, which began the reforms in post-communist countries. The purpose of this study is to analyze how the economies of these post-communist European countries compare to other European countries between the years of 2002 and 2007, after this period of transition. The results suggest that post-communist countries experienced more economic growth during the period studied. The results also indicated that less democratic states experienced more economic growth than states that were more democratic.