ABSTRACT
From the beginning of economic science, in Adam Smith’s Inquiry into the Nature
and Causes of the Wealth of Nations ([1776] 1952), economists have tried to learn by
comparing economic systems. The transformation processes experienced in
Central and Eastern Europe after 1989 and the East Asian financial crisis of
1997 heightened the interest in such comparative learning since both situations
involved large-scale systemic change.1 However, both events also were
embarrassing for the economic profession because it was caught completely
unaware by them.
