From Centrally Planned to Market Economies: Lao PDR, Myanmar and Viet Nam v.3

In recent years, the growing disenchantment with the Socialist economic model has led to reforms in the transitional economies of Asia (TEAs).

The breakdown of the international economic bloc centered in the former Soviet Union gave further impetus to this process.

Although it is difficult to identify the beginning of the reform process, it is accepted that the process started in the People's Republic of China in the late 1970's, in the Lao People's Democratic Republic, Myanmar, and VietNam in the mid-1980s, and in Mongolia in 1990.

While a number of studies of the reform process have been undertaken for the East European countries and the Commonwealth of Independent State countries, the transition process in the TEAs has not been extensively studied.

This three-volume book series, which contains a comprehensive study of economic reforms in five TEAs, - the People's Republic of China, the Lao PDR, Mongolia, Myanmar, and Viet Nam, - fills this void. It examines economic performance in these countries, including prior reforms and institutional changes, recent economic reforms and the historical and economic forces leading to these reforms, and current economic conditions, including constraints to policy changes.

The series discusses policies and operational measures for the future reforms in these countries.

It also discusses the adjustment experiences of the TEAs, of Eastern Europe, and of the former Soviet Union and provides the answers why the TEAs have been more successful in adjusting their economies.