Economic growth has varied widely across the transition countries since 1989. Central Europe has generally performed better than south-eastern Europe, which in turn has out-performed Russia, Ukraine and the other members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). But what accounts for these differences? And what has been the role of institutions? This leaflet summarises a series of papers, sponsored by the Japan-Europe Cooperation Fund (JCEF), which focus on the role of institutions in the transition context. http://www.ebrd.com/pubs/econo/15anni.pdf