CEEC stock markets in the post-communist era: evolutions and convergences

Abstract

The political regimes that emerged from the 1989–1990 transitions needed a strong financial market system to support the economic transformation of previously -centralized communist regimes. In this way, the banking system had to attract foreign investment to build a strong system that was able to lend and create a resilient economy for its private and public sectors. To understand the important role that stock markets play in modelling countries’ economic functioning, this paper explores and reviews the effects of stock market reopening in CEE countries. The data analysis shows that indeed, if referring to financial indicators, the economies of communist countries reached those in Western Europe. Nonetheless, the effects of the equal distribution of financial success remain unclear.