Russia and many other transition countries are now facing the challenges of opening up, restructuring, and modernizing their economies, which requires addressing numerous institutional weaknesses and supply-side distortions. From a regional perspective, drawing on the experience of other reforming countries, the papers examine these issues. Aspects addressed include the implications of trade and capital flows, the process of labor market reform, financial market development, productivitiy growth, and innovation dynamics. The dynamics of the reform process are also studied in the context of new political economy models.