Cliometric Approaches to Central, East, and South-East Europe

Following a brief historiography of cliometric research on the Eastern half of Europe and a summary of six pioneering publications, this chapter discusses the main answers given to the three defining research questions in this field. First, what were the long-term factors impeding economic development in the region? Second, how backward was Eastern Europe by the time the command economy was introduced? Third, how has research assessed the state socialist period?