“Discussion 2.”
This assignment requires two postings. Each posting must be at least 150 words.
Please keep in mind that Discussion Boards are graded based upon your ability to relate the courses material to the topic under discussion, the level to which you support your point with specific examples and your writing. Discussion Boards are not a place to over generalize, vent, use informal writing or use language not appropriate for a professional environment.

Specific information about this assignment is below:
Economies of Eastern Europe are frequently in the news because they provide testing grounds for the transition from socialist central planning to more market-oriented economies. Select an Eastern European country that is transitioning from a socialist centrally planned economy to a more market based economy. After some research on the web, post the country you selected, a summary of how this country’s transition is proceeding, and what problems the country is encountering. Be sure to provide citations for where you draw your information.
After reading the postings of at least three other students, submit a second posting in which you compare and contrast the problems encountered by different nations undergoing the transition from a planned to a market economy.
Student 1:
Kosovo was added to the list of transitioning countries by the World Bank in 2009. One of the latest to be added to this list. Since the 2008 financial crisis Kosovo is only one of four countries to experience growth in every year (WB, 2015). Kosovo is a transitioning economy as it fades away from being the poorest part of the former Soviet Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY). The Yugoslav war and political upheaval lead Kosovo through economic turmoil.

Kosovo has faired well through the transition as they are able to say that they have growth since their declaration of independence. Unfortunately, there is still much to be done as Kosovo still has the highest poverty rate in Europe with 45% of the population leaving below the poverty line and 17% living in extreme poverty (CBK,2010). Kosovo does have much work to do, with low government debt, Kosovo has the opportunity to turn things around. Even though there is much political debate about its international status, it has a strong banking system (IMF, 2011). Kosovo has the potential to become a strong European nation, despite it’s size it’s potential is high. First, needing to take care of poverty and a few other things in the nation, then being completely recognized internationally will help them achieve a full transition into the market economy from the leftover remnants of the SFRY.

Student 2:
In the 1990s Romania had a rough launch out of socialist environment towards a more market driven economy. At that time, Romania intended to join the Eurozone by 2019. The advance in currency has been a long term goal for Romania, because of the Greek crisis, many European countries have been wary about that kind of commitment to the Euro. Romanian leaders are still moving forward with the Euro, but many of these leaders are looking at the Greek crisis as a warning that their country should not enter the Eurozone until Romania is more economically developed. They fear that if they join the currency union prematurely, they would end up like Greece. It’s a likely chance seeing that Romania is the second poorest country in the European Union. There is also a marginal divide in public opinion about having a capitalist economy altogether, many are simply accustomed to the way Romania used to be and aren’t ready for the transition. The largest recession Romania had ever seen did happen after the collapse of communism in the early 1990s.

Student 3:
The year 1989 brought the collapse of communism in the Czech Republic. A country that had been so dependent on Soviet Union ideals found itself with a big decision to make. How would the country move forward with their political and economic system? Many people in the Czech Republic favored something in between their previous communistic system and pure capitalism. They saw the perfect system being one where large businesses were owned by their employees, while only small business was privatized.

Of course, it takes time to completely overhaul an economic system. A big challenge that the people of the Czech Republic faced was the problem of a vastly underdeveloped infrastructure. Capitalistic functions depend heavily on the movement of goods and services and, without a proper infrastructure, preforming those functions would be very difficult. Today, the Czech Republic continues to improve their infrastructure.

Another problem that arose was the inherit monopolistic nature of a transition economy. In a command system, where there is only one entity producing a certain good or service, there is no competition. It proved difficult to promote competition, while privatizing these businesses. As the infrastructure of the Czech Republic improves, competition will come from abroad, furthering the transition.

The economy of the Czech republic, like all eastern European countries, still continues its transition. Every day, these economies move further toward capitalism.

P.S: don’t for get to attach works cited page and each posting should be at least 150 words. (Total around 300 words)
choose 5 sources but you can use it less or more if you want.
“Discussion 3”
Can happiness be measured? Do some research on the internet and find out. Write a 200 word posting in which you discuss the advantages and disadvantages of one of the measures of happiness you found. Be sure to cite the website and measure you are discussing. Respond to one other students posting with at least a 50 word posting discussing why you found the posting to be interesting.

Students posting:
Subjective well-being measures one’s happiness. It is the evaluation of one’s life, moods, and emotions .The three attributes are what makes it termed as “subjective. ’ It has three parts, which are positive moods emotions; negative moods and emotions; and life satisfaction. Life satisfaction determines whether one is satisfied with their life. It sums up one’s emotional well-being for a given time period. One can measure their happiness by tracking their own emotions and life satisfaction as they fluctuate with the life cycles regarding events that affect them and how they affect them. Resultant trends help one to adjust activities and step up the positive effect and life satisfaction. The advantage is that one can measure their happiness at intervals and come up with a consistent trend. However, there are disadvantages to using this approach. First, some people suppress their negative affect and might erroneously indicate that they are happy when they are not. Secondly, the person being targeted can only use this method. This is because; they solely know what is positive to them and no other person can because of personal interests that might not be shared.

P.S. don’t forget to attach work cited at the end of sentence if you use any sources. However, don’t forget to write around 200 words for first posting (my opinion) and around 50 words for the second posting (reflection of other student’s posting.) (Total around 250 words)