AbsractThis discussion paper is concerned with entrepreneurship and the development of small andmediumsized enterprises (SME) in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries, wherethe transition from a socialist command economy towards a marketbased system opened upenormous possibilities for private entrepreneurs. Since the early 1990s, private entrepreneurshipgained ground, and the same applies to research on new and small enterprises [e.g., Aidis (2003,2006), Aidis et al. (2007), Djankov et...