Abstract. The process of systemic transformation to market economy has evolved more by chance than by design, and has beared mixed fruit. The diversity of current conditions is a result of both the legacy of the past and different strategies/policies executed in particular countries afterwards. These polices have been based on different assumptions and followed the advices from alternative schools of economic thought. In the paper written from the comparative perspective, with the use of counterfactual history principles, the multiple-path process of post-communist transformations during the last two decades is examined, some forecasts and propositions for the next generations are provided.