ABSTRACT
This chapter traces the economic development of East Central Europe and its social consequences from the eighteenth century. While Austria and Greece could be treated as part of the region in terms of physical location and some economic and social characteristics, their political history suggests otherwise. The chapter deals with the discussion of “backwardness” and locates the region’s problems in a broader context, and discusses the development process in chronological order. Backwardness serves as a key concept for Daniel Chirot and other authors of the 1989 The Origins of Backwardness in Eastern Europe. Adopting Western institutions and technologies allows the Rest to come out of poverty and economic backwardness. Economic and social history played a subordinate role until World War II. The heyday of economic and social historiography can be dated to the postwar decades, particularly from the late 1950s to the 1970s.
