The International Liberty Institute (ILI) presented Ukrainian editions of three books by German historian and sociologist Rainer Zitelmann and Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises in Kyiv, and also announced preparations for the publication of another work by Zitelmann. Participants in the presentation emphasized that private property, entrepreneurship, competition and limiting excessive government regulation should become important components of Ukraine’s economic recovery.
The books in question are Zitelmann’s “In Defense of Capitalism: Debunking the Myths” and “Capitalism Is Not the Problem, but the Solution: A Journey Through the Recent History of Five Continents,” as well as Mises’ “Bureaucracy.” The fourth book, “How Nations Escape Poverty? Vietnam, Poland and the Origins of Prosperity,” is currently being edited and prepared for printing, according to the organizers.
In particular, the author of “In Defense of Capitalism” examines ten common accusations against the market economy: from worsening poverty and inequality to environmental problems, monopolies, economic crises and wars. Separate chapters are devoted to the historical experience of socialist economies and the attitudes of citizens in different countries toward entrepreneurship and private property.
“The main idea of this book is to defend an economic system based on freedom, private property, competition and entrepreneurship. Any book that promotes the ideas of economic freedom will have an impact on the improvement and development of our society,” Volodymyr Popereshniuk, co-founder of Nova Poshta and the International Liberty Institute (ILI), emphasized at a press conference at the Interfax-Ukraine news agency on Wednesday.
According to him, entrepreneurship creates goods, jobs and prosperity, while excessive government intervention and regulatory restrictions restrain business activity. Popereshniuk also outlined the author’s arguments regarding economic inequality, environmental protection, monopolies and the causes of crises.
He separately focused on the sociological part of the publication. According to the presentation materials, Chapter 12 contains a study of Ukrainians’ attitudes toward capitalism, while Chapter 13 presents the results of surveys in another 35 countries. According to the results cited by the organizers, pro-capitalist sentiments prevail in Ukraine, Poland, the United States, South Korea, Japan, Nigeria and the Czech Republic.
“Ukrainians perceive economic freedom as their own freedom. These studies give us hope that the ideas of entrepreneurship and competition will prevail in Ukraine,” the Nova Poshta co-founder noted, commenting on the results presented in the publication.
Dmytro Dusheiko, PhD in Economics and an expert at the International Liberty Institute (ILI), who served as the academic editor of the Ukrainian edition of “Capitalism Is Not the Problem, but the Solution,” in turn emphasized that Zitelmann analyzes the history of countries that chose different economic models under similar initial circumstances. The examples include North and South Korea, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, Chile and Venezuela, as well as China before and after the beginning of market reforms in the late 1970s.
The expert drew attention to the differences in the development of West Germany following Ludwig Erhard’s reforms and the command-and-administrative system of East Germany. He also cited the experience of market transformations in China and Vietnam after periods of centralized planning.
“We have no right to win the first war for independence and lose the second war — for economic freedom. This very book demonstrates through specific historical examples why reforms will be of decisive importance for the country’s development,” Dusheiko stressed.
He also pointed out that Zitelmann wrote a special foreword to the Ukrainian edition, in which he emphasized the need for economic transformations after victory in the war for independence.
Dusheiko paid particular attention to the book “How Nations Escape Poverty? Vietnam, Poland and the Origins of Prosperity,” on which publishing work is ongoing. In it, the author compares the experiences of two countries that had low levels of personal income at the end of the 20th century but subsequently demonstrated substantial economic growth thanks to reforms.
The economist described the adoption of the Wilczek Act at the end of 1988, which introduced the principle of freedom of entrepreneurship, as an important step in Poland. According to the data presented, the subsequent reforms of Leszek Balcerowicz contributed to 25 years of uninterrupted economic growth in the country between 1992 and 2017. The expert also compared the results of Polish reforms with Ukraine’s experience.
“The law did not build anything; it merely allowed people to engage in free enterprise. War and poverty are not a sentence; they are an opportunity for reforms,” Dusheiko noted, summarizing the conclusions that, in his opinion, Ukraine can draw from the experiences of these countries.
ILI Director Mykhailo Kamchatnyi presented Ludwig von Mises’ work “Bureaucracy,” first published in 1944. He recalled that the prominent representative of the Austrian School of Economics was born in Lviv in 1881. According to the institute’s director, the first Ukrainian edition of “Bureaucracy” was published in a limited print run in 2021, while the current edition is the second; Mykola Bunyk served as the book’s academic editor and translator.
Kamchatnyi explained that Mises distinguishes between management oriented toward profit and consumer needs and bureaucratic management based on compliance with laws, procedures and directives. In his opinion, the problem arises not from the very existence of the administrative apparatus, but when bureaucratic methods are extended to areas where market mechanisms can operate.
“Bureaucracy in itself is neither good nor bad — it is simply a method of management. The most important question is the extent to which bureaucrats interfere in people’s lives and in the economy. The main thing we need to do before starting reconstruction is to clearly distinguish the functions of entrepreneurs and bureaucrats. When a former entrepreneur becomes a government official, he begins to act according to laws and regulations rather than the logic of profit,” Kamchatnyi emphasized.
According to him, the effectiveness of government bodies should be assessed primarily by how they perform their statutory functions. For example, the amount of tax revenue also depends on the economic situation of a region, particularly its proximity to hostilities.
During the question-and-answer session, participants also addressed the role of private business in the country’s defense. Volodymyr Popereshniuk stated that enterprises could participate more effectively in protecting critical facilities, particularly in air defense, but the current procedures, in his opinion, remain excessively bureaucratic.
“This is not a private military company. We do this on a voluntary basis, and the relevant units are subordinate to the military. Companies purchase the necessary equipment at their own expense and allocate personnel, but they operate within the military chain of command,” he explained, speaking about business participation in air defense measures.
According to the organizers, the publishing projects presented are intended to encourage discussion about Ukraine’s development model, the limits of government intervention and the role of business in reconstruction.
TAGS: ECONOMIC FREEDOM, UKRAINE, POST-WAR RECONSTRUCTION, INTERNATIONAL LIBERTY INSTITUTE, ILI, CAPITALISM, ENTREPRENEURSHIP, PRIVATE PROPERTY, RAINER ZITELMANN, LUDWIG VON MISES, BUREAUCRACY, NOVA POSHTA, VOLODYMYR POPERESHNIUK, DMYTRO DUSHEIKO, MYKHAILO KAMCHATNYI, ECONOMIC REFORMS, INTERFAX-UKRAINE
