Industrial Restructuring in Central and Eastern Europe

This paper provides a comprehensive assessment of issues related to the restructuring of large industrial enterprises in Central and Eastern Europe. The experience with industrial restructuring in the region to date suggests that policies aimed at promoting restructuring should focus on: (i) improving the given investment climate by reducing bureaucracy, eradicating corruption, and rationalizing taxes and tax collection, (ii) strengthening social safety nets ? including balanced unemployment benefits and the provision of redundancy packages ? with strong emphasis on retraining schemes and labor mobility, and (iii) reducing soft budget constraints (primarily direct subsidies), soft bank loans, and tax arrears.A full English-language version of this paper is available at the journal's Web site: http://www.financeauver.org.