@Patricia can you prove that it's simply not the case that the most desperate countries are the least able to deny the IMF?, most countries that went through something that could be described as a corollary too "shock therapy" (witch in itself was unique to post soviet Russia) had already exhausted all other options.
@Patricia it's a very specific term that refers to post soviet Russia, yes it has been used to describe other places as well. It's a bit like calling morden Israel for an apartheid, even though the term is originally specific to South Africa.
@ekg I dispute that it is a specific term for post Soviet Russia. Also I don’t see that it matters.
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/shock-therapy.asp
@ekg note that the “shock therapy” in Latin America preceded the wall falling.
@ekg from Wikipedia: “The first instance of shock therapy was the neoliberal reforms of Chile under Pinochet, carried out after the military coup by Augusto Pinochet. The reforms were based on the liberal economic ideas centered on the University of Chicago, which became known as the Chicago Boys.”
This is where they practiced before they came to Eastern Europe
@Patricia if we use Wikipedia as a source, "The term was popularized by Aom Klein. In her 2007 book The Shook Doctrine" from the Wikipedia page on shock therapy under the subline "orgins of the term "shock therapy" " witch greatly implies that the term was not in common use until after then current event. There does however exist a general reference to rapid reform to freemarket policies, but also more specific reference to post soviet states. So I would say its a wash.
@ekg this is possibly the most uninteresting conversation I’ve had in a while. Let’s just end it here.
@Patricia you were the one that picked up that thread. You could have engaged in the more substantial issue raised if you wanted to. But I reject the idea that etymology is uninteresting.
@Patricia it was beside the point, witch is why I wrote it in parenthesis. Words meaning change over time, and varies based region and dialect. I was taught that shock therapy was a specific policy implement in the aftermath of the collapse of the Union in Russia.
@ekg yeah, unfortunately education all over the world is lacking in this area
@ekg but I think it is very relevant, because the dataset is much, much larger than just eastern block countries
@Patricia yeah sure, but it's not as easy as to say "all countries undergoing IMF supervision went to hell". Because it forget to ask "why did counties accept IMF supervision in the first place?". Coronation is rarely causation.
@ekg Oh dear, I actually did point out that it was a correlation, but it seems to hold across dozens of countries over 4 continents. And though correlation doesn’t prove causation, it does indicate a place that might be interesting for study.
@ekg and the fact that it is across dozens of countries over several continents is extremely relevant to eliminate a whole range of variables
@ekg but again, I don’t feel that any of this conversation was done in good faith or tone. So let’s call it a day.
@Patricia I was planing to, and still do. But I feel compelled to refute the idea that I engaged in bad faith. I had every intention, and still do, to represent my position fairly and in full.
@Patricia it does not correct for countries going bankrupt, witch is the most common reason countries reach out to the IMF.
@ekg “witch in itself was unique to post soviet Russia”? I’m not sure where you got this, this was rolled out in most Latin American countries and in Asia and I’m sure in Africa too, but I don’t know enough about that.
And like I said, it is a correlation, but many of the countries that succeeded were also extremely poor at the time.