Trade and Transition: Trade Promotion in Transitional Economies

Integration with the world economy is crucial to economic success for most, if not all, transitional economies. Rapid development of successful exports is vital to that aim. Governments can help through export promotion policies. These include the general macroeconomic policies governing the level of domestic demand and the exchange rate, but also direct support through institutions to provide insurance, finance and marketing assistance for exporters. As important market failures affect foreign trade, governments have good reason to intervene. In transitional economies market failures are even more common and acute because of their recent history of planned allocation, but their attempts to correct for market failures and support exporters have been weak so far. There is much scope for improvement and for lessons to be learned for both them and for latecomers to transition.

Dermot McAleese (Whately Professor of Political Economy, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland Mary O'Donnell (Lecturer in Economics, University of Limerick, Ireland) Magdolna Sass Economist at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD]) Anna Wziatek-Kubiak (Professor at the Institute of International Economics, Warsaw University and at the Polish Academy of Science) Alasdair MacBean Emeritus Professor of Economics, Lancaster University, England