Sachs's mistake was, I think, greater and more technical: he failed to understand how to deal with the ruble overhang, then estimated at about half the currency in circulation. Without first absorbing the ruble 'overhang', hyper-inflation and all the misery that followed with it was inevitable. Sachs was full of himself after Poland, and didn't bother to do his homework in Russia.
Cheers, Lawry -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Ed Weick Sent: Saturday, May 06, 2006 4:40 PM To: [email protected]; Christoph Reuss Subject: Re: [Futurework] Galbraith and economics ~ What should economists do? Chris, can't anyone ever be naive? Must everyone do things out of a cynical self-interest? What Sachs and a few senior Russian officials did at the time was try to convert Russia into an ownership economy. Shares in the state's productive assets were given to people on the assumption that they would keep them as owners of important chunks of Russia. It didn't work out as intended. Sharp operators went around buying up the shares, often for a bottle of vodka, and the scheme was a total failure. The intentions were good, if foolish. Ed > Ed Weick wrote: >> Geoffrey Sachs is a very good economist, but when I was in Russia in >> 1995, >> he had become something of a bad joke among thinking Russians because he >> was >> associated with the privatization scheme that, in the light of hindsight, >> did far more harm than good. Out of their history, ordinary Russians had >> little understanding of "private" or "property". He thought he was >> recommending the right thing and providing a better future for Russia but >> things couldn't work out that way. > > Let's not parrot their hypocritical PR too hypo-critically. Sachs, Soros > & Co. know exactly what they are doing -- not to serve or even liberate > Russians but to plunder them (or "liberate" them from their money). But > of course they didn't tell Russians in advance "we come to plunder you" > but "we come to liberate you". Clever advertising uses half-truths. > > >> What I've found is that people in bad social surrounds are able to >> collectively find their own path to a more secure existence. In the >> slums >> of Sao Paulo, fundamentalist religion provided a basis for positive >> association, collectively taking on projects to enhance the community >> and providing welfare to those in need. In rural Costa Rica, the >> cooperative movement underpinned by the Catholic Church was effective >> in providing for peoples' needs and holding communities together. > > And in the slums of Palestine it's called the Hamas approach. > > >> I think that the most important task is to understand before you advise >> and recommend. > > And the most important task is to understand the real motives of the > advisors > in order to avoid getting duped by them. > > Chris > > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the > keyword > "igve". > > > _______________________________________________ > Futurework mailing list > [email protected] > http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework > _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
