Quote: (10-20-2015 05:11 PM)iknowexactly Wrote:
There are very deep problems in Slavic Culture that will take several generations, even starting now, to cure. I didn't realize it until I traveled, that advanced economies require a high level of general trust between members of the public, at least in most of the geography.
This is a feature of a lot of the developing world.
- rule of law
- trust
- corruption
- security in person, security in property
Most transactions seem to be arm's length, but if every business/government transaction is adversarial it doesn't seem to make for a good society.
I'm wondering to myself if there are any advanced economies with no trust, or any good societies where everything has to be haggled for.
Quote: (10-20-2015 05:11 PM)iknowexactly Wrote:
In Ukraine, I saw a low general trust level of people in each other.
Although they look like Europeans ( less fat however) it is more a pagan clannish society than a genuinely Christian one. In Downtown Lviv people blast though pedestrian intersections at over 40 MPH.
Most long-term Westerners I met there have had altercations or near altercations with their landlords because the landlords feel powerful in the situation, which led to them becoming abusive bullies.
However the last time I was there, several years ago, the younger men seemed more relaxed and engaging and less rigid than the older, paranoid, angry men.
I wonder if this is a communism holdover, or a function of age. (old men are curmudgeonly everywhere)
Quote: (10-20-2015 05:11 PM)iknowexactly Wrote:
The landlord that was pushing me around so he could install a higher-paying tenant had a son with him who was trying to get his father to stop bullying me as the Soviet style older man pushed me around the apartment and refused to let me take my guitar when I left.
But there still is probably a big brain drain there-- most of the smartest people I met were all trying to get out. One girl I knew who was very bright an became a stewardess ( a good use for English if she's hot) did a facebook posting "Will the last person to leave Ukraine turn the lights out at the airport." Then she did it herself.
Brain drain seems like a kind of self-sustaining vicious cycle. If you are bright, and see many of the other bright people leaving, you'll tend to think " I don't want to be stuck here with all the lunkheads." the more people get out, the more the others want to get out.
I don't know if this is true in Poland, a Catholic country. I saw a couple fights there on a visa run from Ukraine.
I go back and forth on brain drain.
In the US, the class of 2008/2009 had all the education in the world, and came out to no jobs. Some may argue that it's a bunch of liberal arts majors, but China and India both graduate hundreds of thousands of STEM people - and they both have problems keeping the bulk of them in gainful employment.
The next part of that argument goes is that China and India aren't particularly "entrepreneurial". Or rather, those STEM people graduating are made to be employees not employers not start up kids.
In both places, powerful families are still the source of jobs. And a lot of wealth goes into real estate - which is an asset that doesn't require a lot of labor over its lifespan in order to get return.
So maybe all the smart kids leaving doesn't make a difference because domestic industry can't utilize them to make money.
Getting back to EE, if you can't expect your machinery to be in your shop when you show up the next morning, or if you have to pay a middle man to "win" a contract - that would certainly discourage the honest businessmen out there.
Good post IKE
WIA