This book examines the causes of very high inflation--and of the great drop in statistically measured output--in the post-Communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe and in the former Soviet Union. It focuses on several key topics: the fundamental nature of the shift from supply-constrained economies (in which there is no unemployment) to ones that are constrained by demand; the reconstruction of monetary and credit systems; and the central role of macroeconomic stabilization and generalized liberalization in creating the basis for private sector growth. Many of the chapters herein have grown out of policy debates in which the author participated.About the Author: Jacek Rostowski is Professor of Economics and Head of the Economics Department at the Central European University, Budapest. He was Economic Adviser to the Polish Government during 1989-91, and has also advised the authorities in Russia, Latvia and Ukraine.