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Preschool can contribute importantly to human capital development, especially among poor children. In socialist countries, preschool enrolment rates have declined since transition. We examine changed preschool enrolment in Kyrgyzstan. We evaluate demand- and supply-side explanations for changing enrolments, and use household survey data to develop a simple, logit model of preschool attendance. We find that access plays the most important role in attendance, despite an apparent excess capacity in preschools at the national level. However, economic and cultural factors also have a significant impact on household decisions to send a child to preschool. Comparative Economic Studies (2007) 49, 81–100. doi:10.1057/palgrave.ces.8100178

In former socialist countries, neoliberal reform promised to replace stagnation with growth and development. Many places, however, experienced a decade of economic decline, accompanied by rising poverty. Although even the worst performing economies managed positive growth rates by 1999-2000, this growth starts from levels as low as 36 percent of 1989 levels. Less recognized than the problem of rising poverty is the erosion of development gains in countries once characterized by high human development. This article distinguishes de-development from the widely recognized issue of poverty. The authors find that transition outcomes are mixed but that de-development can be seen in parts of Central and Eastern Europe and most of the former Soviet Union. One important question is how to use renewed growth to prevent further erosion of development and to recapture lost gains.

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