Which country recovered fastest from communist central planning?

Poland, which was the only European Union economy not to shrink at all in 2009 and which has grown almost continuously since 1992 - the longest unbroken run in Europe. Its output per head has roughly tripled since the end of communism.

The transition was brutal and deliberate. The Balcerowicz plan of 1990 removed price controls, ended subsidies, made the currency convertible and opened trade essentially overnight - shock therapy, which produced a sharp recession, mass unemployment and enormous hardship for several years. Whether that was the reason for the later growth or a cost the growth happened despite is a genuine argument, since Russia applied similar medicine with catastrophic results.

The differences that are usually cited are institutional rather than economic. Poland had a strong civil society before 1989 in Solidarity and the church, kept much of its agriculture in private hands throughout the communist period, had the prospect of EU membership as an anchor for reform, and received substantial debt forgiveness. It is one of the clearest demonstrations that the same policy produces very different results depending on what it lands on.