Estonia and Lithuania in transition: A compared analysis of the change and its costs and benefits

Abstract

On the aftermath of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the newly independent republics had to face a choice over which economic system should be adopted, and how to implement the transition from a planned economy to market economy system. The aim of this paper is to provide a brief overview of the transition process in the cases of Estonia and Lithuania, two countries with a similar history but with significant differences on the social, economic and cultural background. The two countries undertook two different sets of transition reforms: while the first country chose the path of the so called “shock therapy”, Lithuania opted for a more gradual transition. The paper will bring a comparative analysis of the two transitions and of its different outcomes after approximately 25 years of transition.