Douarin, Elodie; (2023) (Re-)Experiencing markets: Public attitudes towards markets in the post-communist transition. UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies: London, UK.

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Abstract

This chapter reviews the literature on the determinants of support for market economies, and for values deemed compatible with markets, in the transition region from the 1990s. The critical review presented focuses on work using large household or population surveys collected at different points in time since the onset of transition. Key differences in indicators of support, and their interpretations, are emphasised to clarify how and why specific questions asked to citizens can be informative about support for reforms. Overall, greater initial support for markets seems to have been important, early experiences with market reforms (whether extensive or partial) led to changes in views, and crises remain key turning points for further change. But maybe most importantly, it seems that people understood reforms had short-term costs, and as long as they remained hopeful that liberalization could bring improvement, they continued to support reforms towards markets. We emphasise throughout that analysing public opinion is difficult especially in the absence of benchmarks, and when clear definitions of what is being assessed is not provided: we highlight limitations with the questions typically used to measure support for policy change or economic systems, and possible issues with how these questions are understood by lay-person and researchers or policymakers alike.

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