Path Dependence and Privatization Strategies in East Central Europe

Across the ruins of Communism, a clear breeze blows from the West. Like the "fresh winds" that had been hailed form the East across the ruins of war more than four decades earlier, it promises prosperity through sacrifice. Like the old vision with its road maps to the promised land, this new vision comes with packaged formulas for applying economic science to the grand project of institutional reconstruction. In 1991, no less than in 1948, devastation is seen as mandating boldness of action but also as presenting an opportunity: the collapse of the old order issues the imperative for ambitious experiments while offering the occasion to build anew, this time, with a fresh start to create capitalism by design.