This book is one of the first single-authored critical analyses of the transition to the market in Eastern Europe and Russia. It assesses the outcomes of the reform process during the years following the fall of the Berlin Wall, looking at a number of important questions: why was stabilisation so difficult to achieve and the recovery following so late?; why are structural reforms progressing so slowly?; how are these economies to be integrated into the international economy, and what will be the consequences? The book provides a comparative approach to transformation and supplies a large amount of factual and statistical information. It will be of great interest to students, specialists and practitioners, and its simple non-technical approach makes it appropriate for all those interested in the issues of transition.