The book asks whether transplanting banks can solve the problems
involved in creating a well-functioning market economy from outside,
looking especially at the virtually complete takeover of East German
banks by their Western counterparts after unification. Drawing on a wide
range of English and German sources, and fieldwork interviews across
Germany, it argues that there are no quick fix solutions to transition
to a market. Implications are discussed for East Germany and for other
previously centrally planned economies, and the global implications of
foreign ownership in banking are considered.