Today that chorus is considerably quieter. For the Third World, the “free market” has long been synonymous with extreme poverty. But in eastern Europe, the dreams of Western-style consumerism have vanished, and even the highly developed countries are today mired in long-term stagnation and deepening social problems.

In the following pages, we present a look at some of the realities of market economies -- in the former socialist states, in Australia and New Zealand, and in “prosperous” Europe.

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