ABSTRACT
The aim of this chapter is to discuss selected institutional changes to the economic transition period in Poland and Ukraine. The development of private ownership and the capital market – a mechanism supporting privatization – is the main area of analysis in this chapter. The experience of 25 years of economic transformation allows an overall positive assessment of Polish privatization. One of the criticisms of the privatization process in Poland is the fact that the rules of privatization were not clearly defined, which caused many abuses. It is much more difficult to assess the current process of ownership transformation in Ukraine and its results. On the one hand, privatization triggers pro-market forces, on the other hand, the disconnection between a narrow group of “winners” and a broad group of “losers” in the process of ownership transformation and has become one of the causes of the political crisis in Ukraine. During the first two decades of its economic transformation, the Polish capital market became significantly involved in the process of privatization of the public sector; the Ukrainian capital market, however, is still a barely efficient mechanism for supporting the development of the private sector.
