Trade reorientation and recovery in transition economies

How do we define transition and when can we say that transition to a market economy is complete? Here we suggest that one way of addressing this issue is to analyse current economic data and ask whether, in ignorance of the past, we can identify countries in central and eastern Europe as being somehow different from comparable western market economies. In this paper we focus on international trade and argue that several indicators, such as the geographical structure of trade and the undervaluation of the exchange rate, cannot distinguish the more advanced countries in central and eastern Europe. We also seek to explain how the reorientation of trade towards the West has been achieved and, in particular, assess whether improvements on design and quality are a prerequisite for export expansion.