The successful functioning of market based economies depends in large measure on the existence of widespread public understanding of the operation of market mechanisms and belief in the fairness, efficiency and effectiveness of markets. Given the existence of centrally planned economies throughout Eastern Europe for most of the post World War II era, there are real questions about the nature and extent of public understanding and appreciation of market mechanisms anywhere in Eastern Europe. These questions raise serious concerns about the ability of the emerging democracies of Eastern Europe to make successful transitions from centrally planned to market economies. This project undertakes exploratory research in Eastern Europe designed both to describe and explain existing economic attitudes and beliefs of citizens in the centrally planned economies and to provide baseline data that will permit more dynamic assessments of the relationships between economic attitudes and beliefs and economic structures as Eastern European nations attempt the difficult transition from centrally planned to market economies. The significance of this research lies not only in what it will tell us about the prospects for developing market economies in the several formerly communist nations of Eastern Europe but also in what it will help us learn more broadly about the interplay of economic structures, their functions, and the nature of public economic thinking.
