The end of central planning was widely welcomed in Eastern Europe and, to a lesser extent, in the Soviet Union where it became entwined with the dissolution of the Union. A common expectation was that, after a brief transition, the economies would provide the higher living standards evident in Western Europe and parts of East and Southeast Asia. In practice, the optimism was misplaced as, unlike the experience of China and Viet Nam, which had experienced enhanced growth after their reforms of 1978-79 and 1986, the European and CIS transition economies experienced a sharp recession. The proximate cause was the decline of output from existing enterprises and the slow process of job creation in restructured and new enterprises.