Economy of developing countries. Cambodia
Reflecting on how to raise the economy of our long-suffering, I settled for a month in freelance in Cambodia, one of the poorest countries in Southeast Asia. About what thought this prompted me and how things are going there and this article will go.
The first pattern break occurred in a bus from the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh to the resort town of Sihanoukville (where, by the way, not so long ago, mercenary Khmer policemen arrested the oligarch Polonsky for some trifle). Clips of Khmer artists were played on the bus, usually a full Khmer youth dressed in Lacoste sings in the background of some kind of shack or hotel, a pretty Khmer girl winds next to her. But one clip especially caught my attention - they sang against the background of an excavator. That is, they consider it cool when a person works at a factory, at a construction site, he is a hard worker, and not some kind of farmer.
Almost any ambitious Cambodian from the city knows English. Still, having English and a motorcycle (rent from $ 3 a day for strangers), he can earn a private trump for a dollar in 15 minutes, and if a tourist gets a simpleton, then even $ 3 and $ 5 will be enough for eastern impudence. Cambodians, who work closely with tourists, rent apartments from $ 150 a month, if you look good, or $ 250, if you take the first-fifth one. Those residents who have not yet joined this source of endless tourist wealth, rent housing for 70-100 dollars, perhaps cheaper if you look.
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Now in Sihanoukville, you can find electronics and home appliances shops at every corner, in Moscow there are much fewer of them (hello early 2000s). What does this mean? About the fact that some time ago (and perhaps still), this area was very profitable, was in great demand. Once Cambodians did not have the opportunity to buy equipment, and, in fact, no one had it. Then there was a need to fill this vacuum, compare the need for irons in the country where every house has an iron, and even more than one, but someone might want a new one. And a country where no one has any irons, but money has already appeared. Another characteristic feature of Sihanoukville is public laundries, here it is not a tribute to fashion, but in many respects a necessity. Apartments and hotels here are usually rented without a washing machine, so laundry is especially relevant. Moreover, there are 2 types of them: ordinary laundries with old washing machines at 75 cents per kilogram of clothes and modern ones with machines of European class for a dollar.
So why are they poor? They have complete capitalism. They are quite hardworking and ambitious, at least those I have seen. So what's wrong with them? Let's start with the fact that 30% of the population can not read and write. What do you think is the quality of education of the remaining 70%? This means that even with the banal freelancing on Western exchanges, the majority will have serious problems. They cannot carry out intellectual work for foreign customers, and domestic customers are not sufficiently solvent. Only mechanical work remains, not post-industrial, but industrial and even pre-industrial society. Labor productivity in an industrial society depends heavily on tools, and tools depend either on local scientific progress or on investments if imported equipment is purchased. There is no science in Cambodia, and there is no place to invest too, because for foreign investors there are no obvious competitive advantages to invest in Cambodia, but there is a risk that in this wild country it can be thrown, a special risk due to cultural differences. Today I saw how local policemen arrested a European; he quarreled about something with a local two times less than him. The problem is that he cannot even explain what happened, because the cops are not that good at english. It is clear why in the 90s no one in the West wanted to invest in the Russian economy. It is the same here in Cambodia, you can only develop at the expense of domestic resources, and they are very limited.
In connection with these for the development of the Russian economy could offer the following recommendations:
PS: Probably it will be interesting to many, in terms of freelancing, the country is quite convenient, for $ 400 you can rent a mansion, for $ 50 to spend the Internet, the usual criminal situation. Everything is at home, only milk in stores is not for sale and cockroaches are 3 times larger. But the sun. Much has been written about Cambodia on the Internet, here I wanted to approach this country a bit from the other side. Sori, that in a non-profile topic, fierce thieves underestimated reputation, now I can not write to the address. Plus, if you wrote for good reason.
The first pattern break occurred in a bus from the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh to the resort town of Sihanoukville (where, by the way, not so long ago, mercenary Khmer policemen arrested the oligarch Polonsky for some trifle). Clips of Khmer artists were played on the bus, usually a full Khmer youth dressed in Lacoste sings in the background of some kind of shack or hotel, a pretty Khmer girl winds next to her. But one clip especially caught my attention - they sang against the background of an excavator. That is, they consider it cool when a person works at a factory, at a construction site, he is a hard worker, and not some kind of farmer.
Almost any ambitious Cambodian from the city knows English. Still, having English and a motorcycle (rent from $ 3 a day for strangers), he can earn a private trump for a dollar in 15 minutes, and if a tourist gets a simpleton, then even $ 3 and $ 5 will be enough for eastern impudence. Cambodians, who work closely with tourists, rent apartments from $ 150 a month, if you look good, or $ 250, if you take the first-fifth one. Those residents who have not yet joined this source of endless tourist wealth, rent housing for 70-100 dollars, perhaps cheaper if you look.
')
Now in Sihanoukville, you can find electronics and home appliances shops at every corner, in Moscow there are much fewer of them (hello early 2000s). What does this mean? About the fact that some time ago (and perhaps still), this area was very profitable, was in great demand. Once Cambodians did not have the opportunity to buy equipment, and, in fact, no one had it. Then there was a need to fill this vacuum, compare the need for irons in the country where every house has an iron, and even more than one, but someone might want a new one. And a country where no one has any irons, but money has already appeared. Another characteristic feature of Sihanoukville is public laundries, here it is not a tribute to fashion, but in many respects a necessity. Apartments and hotels here are usually rented without a washing machine, so laundry is especially relevant. Moreover, there are 2 types of them: ordinary laundries with old washing machines at 75 cents per kilogram of clothes and modern ones with machines of European class for a dollar.
So why are they poor? They have complete capitalism. They are quite hardworking and ambitious, at least those I have seen. So what's wrong with them? Let's start with the fact that 30% of the population can not read and write. What do you think is the quality of education of the remaining 70%? This means that even with the banal freelancing on Western exchanges, the majority will have serious problems. They cannot carry out intellectual work for foreign customers, and domestic customers are not sufficiently solvent. Only mechanical work remains, not post-industrial, but industrial and even pre-industrial society. Labor productivity in an industrial society depends heavily on tools, and tools depend either on local scientific progress or on investments if imported equipment is purchased. There is no science in Cambodia, and there is no place to invest too, because for foreign investors there are no obvious competitive advantages to invest in Cambodia, but there is a risk that in this wild country it can be thrown, a special risk due to cultural differences. Today I saw how local policemen arrested a European; he quarreled about something with a local two times less than him. The problem is that he cannot even explain what happened, because the cops are not that good at english. It is clear why in the 90s no one in the West wanted to invest in the Russian economy. It is the same here in Cambodia, you can only develop at the expense of domestic resources, and they are very limited.
In connection with these for the development of the Russian economy could offer the following recommendations:
- predictability , for investment. Moreover, predictability is at the level of a consistent foreign policy, as well as at the level of local courts and the police. And, oddly enough, hard laws are not at all mandatory, the absence of laws is much more predictable, in this case one should not be afraid of the authorities.
- development of education to increase productivity. The world is globalizing and the Java EE programmer in Moscow receives almost as much as a similar specialist in San Francisco or Kuala Lumpur. Therefore, more important is not where you live, but what you can do. Cambodian teens will not be able to learn Java EE, because first they need to learn math. And they could get $ 4000 working at a remote location in a country where everyone gets $ 100.
- ability to bargain . The economic boom in Cambodia occurred with the arrival of tourists. First, the goods were sold for the local currency, but soon the Khmer realized that if you rounded up to one dollar, tourists would still buy. Then they tried for two - and the tourists still took. As a result, in one of the poorest countries in the region, we have hotels for $ 7 and bananas for $ 1, even in Moscow, bananas are cheaper. To sell based not on cost, but on how much the market is willing to pay - this is a truth that many compatriots are not given. Many still have indignation, as it is, there they make a mark-up five times, but they still take it. If there is such a premium, it means either other expenses are large, or there you have to run faster and open your “Horns and hoofs” nearby, since money is not a problem now, loans are given at every corner. You may be the best specialist on the planet, but if you do not know how to get a decent reward for yourself, you will be poor. See for yourself, we were the first to launch a man into space, the first to create an atomic reactor, we are cooler than 90% of the world's population, and why did the Americans buy us? For chewing gum, jeans and Coca-Cola. I say this without complaints or hitting, on the contrary, this is a good lesson of what good PR can do, good selling skills. Can we share something and sell it to other countries? If yes - we will be fine.
PS: Probably it will be interesting to many, in terms of freelancing, the country is quite convenient, for $ 400 you can rent a mansion, for $ 50 to spend the Internet, the usual criminal situation. Everything is at home, only milk in stores is not for sale and cockroaches are 3 times larger. But the sun. Much has been written about Cambodia on the Internet, here I wanted to approach this country a bit from the other side. Sori, that in a non-profile topic, fierce thieves underestimated reputation, now I can not write to the address. Plus, if you wrote for good reason.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/242389/
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