Market Institutions, East European Reform, and Economic Theory
It has been more than two years since Poland introduced "shock therapy" by following the orthodox precepts of economic reform: tight monetary policy, restricted fiscal policy, and exportled growth.1 Shock therapy was taken from the development approach advocated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank and adapted to Polish circumstances by Finance Minister Leszek Balcerowicz, with the assistance of Western advisors.2 Shock therapy is based on a neoclassical understanding of