How did post-communist transformations affect people’s perceptions of their
economic and political systems? We model a pseudo-panel with 89 country-year
clusters, based on 13 countries observed between 1991 and 2004, to identify the
macro and institutional drivers of the public opinion. Our main findings are: (i) When
the economy is growing, on average people appreciate more extensive reforms;
they dislike unbalanced reforms. (ii) Worsening of income distribution and higher
inflation interact with an increasing share of the private sector in aggravating
nostalgia for the past regime. (iii) Cross-country differences in the attitudes towards
the present and future (both in the economic and political dimensions) are largely
explained by differences in the institutional indicators for the rule of law and
corruption. (iv) Cross-country differences in the extent of nostalgia towards the past
are mainly related to differences in the deterioration of standards of living