ABSTRACT
The centrally planned economy discouraged innovation at a time of fundamental technological change, in spite of the vast resources dedicated to science and technology. The starting position of Central and East European countries at the beginning of the information revolution was very unfavourable, related to the legacy of socialism. Looking at the diversity of economic development paths, numerous factors, related to economic system, economic policy, economic environment, or pre-socialist history, socialist history and post-socialist developments, can be distinguished. Despite market-oriented reforms under socialism, economic performance weakened, even more than in non-reformed economies. Lithuania re-emerged as an independent state in March 1990. During the inter-war period of independence Lithuania had a relatively well-functioning market economy, although it was a largely agrarian country. In Poland the crisis of state socialism was the most acute and here political challenges for communist rulers were the greatest. The economic crisis in Ukraine is even deeper than in Russia.
