ABSTRACT
Slovenia proclaimed independence on June 26, 1991, after a decade of tense and uncertain political and economic developments. Slovenia enjoyed the preconditions for a successful double transition: from a socialist to a market economy and from dependence to independence. Pragmatism and gradualism proved successful in coping with the consequences of the federal economic policy, in establishing sovereignty in the fiscal and foreign exchange systems, and in preparing institutional settings for a "new" country long before the proclamation of independence. The government realized that the prospects of transition to a market economy within Yugoslavia were worsening due to a mistaken economic policy of the federal government, its unsuitable economic system, and the political turmoil facing the federation. The increase of unemployment was accompanied by an increase of pensioners; a policy of early retirement added to an increase in the ratio of those retired to those employed to a disturbing 1 to 1.6.
