Capitalism For Old Communists: Teaching The Teachers

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Capital market economies came suddenly to the countries of the former Soviet Union, but understanding of capital markets is coming more slowly. University of Arkansas economics professor Tom McKinnon is working to change that. He is one of three educators from the United States that travel to these countries and teach university faculty how to teach about capitalism.

"Communism was in place there for 50 years," explains McKinnon, director of the Bessie Moore Center for Economic Education at the University of Arkansas. "So all of the university economics faculty were trained in that system. They were basically taught that capitalism was a failed system that a few greedy rich used to oppress the masses."

McKinnon recently returned from Belarus, his fourth trip to the East Asian Republics. He has also taught economics to teachers in Latvia and Lithuania as part of the Training of Trainers Program of the Economic Education for Democratic Transformation project sponsored by the National Council on Economic Education (NCEE). The NCEE also sends teachers to the Asian and East Asian republics, such as Kazakhstan and Ukraine.

He conducts 10-day workshops for groups of 50-60 teachers from the East Asian republics. The workshops focus on teaching the basics of the free market system, but they also include lessons on how to teach about economics.

"I incorporate exercises, experiments and interactivity into the workshops and provide the participants with materials they can use in their classes," McKinnon said. "These are new delivery techniques for them, since they have always used a lecture method to teach economics."

McKinnon has learned a lot from his trips as well. Watching a developing market economy gives him insight into the way the United States economy developed. For example, he notes that the Russian mafia controls a lot of commerce through protection rackets, much as the mafia did in the United States 50-60 years ago.

"Right now, there is not much government control over the economy," he explained. "There are laws, but they are not enforced. For example, there is an income tax law, but no one pays it. There is very little the government can do now to enforce compliance."

In his workshop McKinnon has used some of the same tools that he uses to teach undergraduates at the University of Arkansas, with surprising results. In one exercise, each student is "given" a sum of money and assigned to a group. The group members are asked to allocate their money either to their individual accounts or to the "public good" for roads, water systems, etc.

When this exercise is given to students at the University of Arkansas, some amount, however small, is always allocated to the "public good." But when the exercise is done in the former communist republics, no money is ever allocated to the "public good."

McKinnon speculates that this is due to their direct experience with communism, where almost everything went to the "public good," but individuals received few benefits from it.

While it may seem that capitalism is thriving in the Balkan republics, McKinnon has found some dissatisfaction with the new systems. While countries like Latvia and Lithuania have seen improvements under the new system, others, like Belarus, have not. This has caused some people to question the capital market economy and politicians in Belarus have called for reuniting with Russia, according to McKinnon.