ABSTRACT
The decline in output in Central and Eastern European (CEE) transformation countries following economic and political liberalization around 1990 surprised many observers. The changes unleashed within the agricultural economies of CEE countries were in many ways unprecedented in scope. CEE countries differ in terms of other economic indicators as well. The Baltic countries and Slovakia each contain five million or fewer people, which represent a relatively small domestic market. The situation is very different in CEE countries, where collapsing effective demand for food coupled with price reductions to world market levels contributed to declining returns to farm labor. Building market economies - including the institutional, social and human dimensions - in CEE countries from the ground up has proven far more difficult than originally anticipated. The situation is very different in CEE countries, where collapsing effective demand for food coupled with price reductions to world market levels contributed to declining returns to farm labor.
