Commanding Heights The Agony of Reform

Shock Therapy What is it? Where did it work? Where did it not work? And why? Why China, but not Russia? Poland, but not Bolivia?  

Shock Therapy What are the social implications of shock therapy? What are the consequences of deregulation and privatization for the individual citizen? What, if anything, could have been done to alleviate some of these impacts?

What do you think should be done about it? Shock Therapy What consequences of deregulation and privatization are we seeing today in the U.S. economy? What do you think should be done about it?

Do you think there are places like this today? Transparency How is it possible that Soviet and Chinese economies were not doing so well, and yet nobody in the West knew about it? Do you think there are places like this today?

Why would some choose the Indian economic model over the Japanese? The Indian Carmaker The Indian carmaker started at the same time as Toyota, and yet Toyota has gone on to be the world's leading car manufacturer while its Indian counterpart, 50 years later, was still producing the same model of car at the rate of only 18,000 a year. Why was this? Why would some choose the Indian economic model over the Japanese? What comparisons do you see to the current crisis with American automakers?

Dependency Theory What is the Dependency Theory? Does an economic model of "self-sufficiency" make sense?  Why or why not?

Money Why can't a government keep printing money to keep an economy going? Why did some countries do it anyway?

Country Updates Tell Us: What was going on in the country? Argentina    Bolivia    Chile    China    India    Poland    Russia Tell Us: What was going on in the country? What changes were made? Did it work? Economically and politically, what is happening now?

Country Updates --Argentina - incomp. reforms, international debt   --Argentina - incomp. reforms, international debt +Bolivia - Hyperinflation and shock therapy +++Chile - the Chicago Boys and Pinochet ++China - does capitalism require cultural freedom? Maintain political control , allow cap. ++India - goverment regulation and protections - Relationship to Ghana? +++Poland - shock therapy and the price of eggs - ++Russia - glasnost without economic reform -         Yeltsin and the oligarchs - 1998 default ->