Summary
For former Communist countries, the transition from collectivism to market economic orders was not easy. Lives were upturned, certainties abolished, and an entire way of life crumbled for millions. Economics, we learned, had cultural consequences, just as culture has economic implications.
Bringing together policymakers, business leaders, clergy, and economists, this conference explored the complex cultural and economic questions facing economies that, over 20 years after Communism’s collapse, are still in a state of transition. What are Communism’s remaining economic and cultural legacies? How do we reconcile the need for free markets with maintaining the cultural fabric that itself provides essential moral foundations for commerce?