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Open thread Nov. 25, 2014

Dan Crawford | November 25, 2014 4:29 am

Tags: open thread Comments (3) | Digg Facebook Twitter |
3 Comments
  • Denis Drew says:
    November 25, 2014 at 11:36 am

    For Whom the Wall Fell? A balance-sheet of transition to capitalism
    http://glineq.blogspot.com/2014/11/for-whom-wall-fell-balance-sheet-of.html

    absolute failures
    Tajikistan, Moldova, Ukraine, Kyrgyz Republic, Georgia, Bosnia and Serbia. … “At current rates of growth, it might take them some 50 or 60 years …to go back to the income levels they had at the fall of Communism.”

    relative failures — countries that grew more slowly than the average of rich OECD counties
    “Macedonia, Croatia, Russia and Hungary”

    countries that are just about keeping up with the rich world [growth]
    “Czech republic, Slovenia, Turkmenistan, Lithuania and Romania”

    success cases
    “The real capitalist successes [not relying on rich resources] are only five: Albania, Poland, Belarus, Armenia and Estonia”

    MY TAKE ON THE DIFFERENCE between the failure of these ex-communist economies to take advantage of capitalism and grow — compared with the gigantic success of Asian economies of all political persuasions? Those historically successful Asian economies all share one modus operandi: they are all consciously attempting to raise the income of everyone at once (as in simultaneously) — not devoted to trickle down (Russia notorious — India not doing too great).

    GUESS WHERE THE UNITED STATES FITS THESE DAYS ON THE RAISE-EVERYONE-AT-ONCE SCALE? (Legally mandated) centralized bargaining anyone? Anyone got a better way back? ???

  • Tonu says:
    November 25, 2014 at 10:29 pm

    I’d suggest you reconsider your categories — Estonia has a very long history of reliance on rich resources. Not that shale oil is clean but it does contribute greatly to her success..

  • Denis Drew says:
    November 26, 2014 at 10:59 am

    “The Karl Marx Credit Card – When You’re Short of Kapital”
    by Barry Ritholtz – November 26th, 2014

    “There is an old joke in Russia that everything they were told about communism was a lie, but everything they were told about capitalism turned out to be true.”

    http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2014/11/the-karl-marx-credit-card-when-youre-short-of-kapital/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheBigPicture+%28The+Big+Picture%29

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