The agreements have increased the access of Central European goods to Western Europe while imposing few reciprocal obligations on their still-weak post-Communist economies.

Today, as Russia's post-Communist economy has slumped into dysfunction, the fortunes of Mr. Giffen, a California-born lawyer, have soared.

Further East, the post-Communist economies are likely to pick up faster, though with big differences.

In addition, they say, the post-Communist economy, no matter what its size, seems likely to use less energy for each unit of economic output.

Since 1989, Poland's annual growth rate was one of the highest of all post-Communist economies, and has not entered economic recession.

Fourth, he ignores the fact that the connections between extralegality and poverty are very different in emerging and in post-Communist economies.

For example, Poland's annual growth rate between 1989 and 2000 was the highest of all post-Communist economies.

The most advanced post-Communist economies, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, now have a realistic chance of admission within the next decade.

Daniel R. Denison also writes on the subject of applying American organizational culture, etc. theory in post-communist and transitional economies and notably Russia.

He is the author of more than 200 publications, including many works on the theoretical and applied studies post-Communist economies and economic development of the Central Caucasus countries.