Modelling economies in transition: an introduction

This paper considers the implications of structural breaks, such as have oc curred in many transition economies, for econometric modelling based on the multivariate cointegration paradigm. It outlines recent developments on th e identification of linear cointegrated systems, discusses some practical p roblems, and presents an extension to non-linear systems. This is followed by a discussion of the impact of structural breaks on the identification an d estimation of such systems. Finally, it relates these issues to the other papers in this volume. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.