The creation of exchanges in countries with communist histories
This chapter considers the stock markets that have emerged
during the transition from centrally planned to market
economies. The transition occurred over the last 20 years and
covered a wide geographical area spreading from Central and
Eastern Europe (CEE) through Central Asia to China and Vietnam.
A complete description of the different paths of transition in
each individual country would be too voluminous for this forum.
Instead, this chapter concentrates on the common features and
most important differences in the development of stock markets
in the more than 30 countries that underwent transition. The
following analysis identifies the most important factors that
contributed to the success or failure of individual stock
markets that were re-established from a fresh start in the early
1990s. 2. Historical background During the pre-Communist period,
practically all countries described below had functioning
commercial exchanges that dealt both in