Path-dependent Development in the Western Balkans : The Impact of Privatization

Despite of structural commonalities resulting from the shared socialist heritage, regional, historical, and cultural peculiarities of every country place a crucial impact on shape and speed of post-socialist development. This applies especially to the process of privatization in transition; methods were chosen to bring in line the socialist legacies and the demands of a fast and as painless as possible transition to a market economy. The compendium aims at accessing choice and success of privatization methods in the Western Balkans with regard to the countries’ attributes. The impacts of privatization on enterprise performance and efficiency, private entrepreneurship, competitiveness, the role of the state, and macroeconomic data in the countries of the Western Balkans are related to the countries’ distinct features. In six contributions experts from the region analyze these interdependencies in detail.