ABSTRACT
This chapter compares the institutional structures and changes of many countries. These comparisons deal both with Western economies and with the economies of Eastern Europe. The idea of analyzing and comparing different forms of capitalism or market economies is, of course, not new at ali in the social and economic sciences. The chapter presents two different but equally important sources of knowledge regarding institutional change. First, there are the comparative analyses of several capitalistic market economies. Second, there are the descriptions of the transition processes involving various forms of capitalistic models and ideals emerging in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Some of these researchers emphasize the idea that there are different forms of capitalism, notably Orru, who compares the German and Japanese institutional structures and changes. Capitalism or market-based economic systems has obviously triumphed, and communism or centrally planned economic systems has disintegrated and degenerated.
