Hunting for Homo Sovieticus: Situational versus Attitudinal Factors

Hunting for Homo Sovieticus: Situational versus Attitudinal Factors in Economic Behavior

By Robert J. Shiller; Maxim Boycko; Vladimir Korobov, Sidney G. Winter, Thomas Schelling

These economists cross examined ex-communist countries with advanced capitalist countries by using their attitudinal factors and situational factors. These economists focused on the behavioral economics. Its goal was to discover if a different type of economic

Question: Why do so many people think that people in ex-communist countries and advanced capitalist countries have such different attitudes?

• Attitudinal factors relate to psychological traits, personality, and culture. Attitudinal factors are matters of taste and preference.

• Situational factors relate to people’s perceptions of their economic situation. Situational factors are the perceived constraints under which people operate.

• Relevant factors include the institutions that affect them, their economic expectations, and their expectations about how other people will react to their own actions.

What they expected to find “The relative role of attitudinal and situational influences in behavior is of crucial importance in determining the optimal speed for pro-market economic reform to proceed in ex-communist countries. Situational influences may change quickly. If such situational influences predominate, as policy regimes change, we may hope for quick progress; thus reforms should proceed quickly. On the other hand, if attitudinal factors predominate, then policy makers in ex-communist countries might be advised to be cautious about the transition to a market economy.”

Methodology

• They conducted a study in order to study the difference in economical behavioral between ex-communist countries compared to advanced capitalist countries. Their methodology was to call or to go door-to-door and ask certain questionnaire geared to situational and attitudinal factors in their society.

Conclusions

• This study indicate that there are systematic differences between ex-communist and advanced capitalist countries in situation that in underlying attitudes. The results indicate also that “it appears that the perceived situation in ex-communist countries appears to encourage rational people to assume relatively short-term mentality: they try to work their way through current problem as easy as possible, but try to avoid making any long term commitments.” Actors from ex-communist countries tend to “less prepare to make investments of their time that are specific to their current organization. This short-termism might be a sensible response to a situation in Russia and Ukraine in which many people expect current enterprises to fail.”

• People in ex-communist countries are "more likely to expect their government to create serious problems that will undermine their own efforts to improve their own situation. People are more likely to expect their enterprise to be unrewarding. They are more likely to think that they may ned to cut their losses and even emigrate.