Latvia braces for a fall

“Among the three Baltic states, Latvia is in a position of having to worry the most about its economy overheating”

RIGA, Latvia - Like other Latvians, Ralfs Jansons has been on an economic rocket ride that has taken him from Soviet Union austerity to free-market nirvana.

As a boy in communist-era Riga, Jansons lived in a communal apartment with two families that peddled illegal liquor and sometimes stole his clothes. Today, Jansons, 36, drives a Toyota Land Cruiser, lives in a posh downtown flat and handles real estate for an investment firm with a $5 billion portfolio.

But as the boom that transformed Latvia and its Baltic neighbors winds down, Jansons and his countrymen are left pondering two questions: Are tough times ahead, and how tough will they be? Read more