Abstract

The subject of analysis is the nature of the market reforms in the Central and East European (CEE) countries and especially the strong influence of the Washington Consensus as a set of neo-liberal policies that was imposed by the International Monetary Fund on developing and transition countries during the third wave of globalization of the world economy. The consequences of the neo-liberal policies are investigated mainly in the following aspects: i) as a source of misalignment of means and goals in the market reform agenda; ii) as a factor retarding the building of genuine market institutions in the region; iii) as a generator of negative shocks on both external and internal aggregate demand eventually causing a deep and long- lasting recession; iv) as one of the reasons for increasing poverty, inequality and corruption in the economy of transition countries.