How I learned to stop worrying and love the crisis

Abstract

In this paper we investigate the effects of economic crises on the subsequent economic performance, economic liberalization and institutional change. Our analysis is based on a sample of post-communist countries, most of which experienced severe economic crises in the early 1990s. We find that the severity of the crisis has a positive impact on the subsequent pace of economic reform and economic growth. The effect on institution change is more complicated: the crisis appears to cause an initial worsening of institutions followed by a subsequent improvement later on.