Abstract:

The paper is divided in two parts. The first part discusses the estimations of the economic and social consequences of the transformation process in the Central and East Europe given by the residents of that region. Majority of the region's inhabitants feel the decline of their country's economic situation as well as of their family's financial, situation but they still prefer the economic reform towards the market economy. The second part of the article describes the economic values of the Lithuanian population. The concept of the potential entrepreneurship is introduced in this part and the typology of the Lithuanian population based on that concept is presented. Data used for the analysis of the economic values and for the classification were obtained from the studies of the quantitative nature conducted by the "Baltic surveys" company in 1990-1993. Four types of people according to their attitudes towards the different kinds of activities and prefered sphere of the activity are described. Special attention is devoted to the issues of the privatization and involvment in the reform. Influence of the socio-demographic variables on the potential entrepreneurship and individual activity is discussed. Analysis of the data obtained from both international comparative and regular Lithuanian surveys show that in spite of the hardship in the every 7 day life the majority of the Lithuanians support the economic reform. Younger group is more enterprising and future-oriented than the older group in Lithuanian society.