From: Anders Sandberg (nv91-asa@nada.kth.se)
Date: Thu Mar 06 1997 - 02:31:37 MST
On Wed, 5 Mar 1997, J. de Lyser wrote:
> Revolution (civil war) in Albania, because of a Pyramid system!
>
> Do we blame it on the state ?, or could this be an error that somehow
> slipped into our free market ideals ? I remember Russia having some similar
> problems and social unrest, in a (stock market pyramid) case where it
> wasn't supported by the state, a few years ago.
There has been several pyramid scheme scandals in Eastern Europe since the
fall of the wall, I seem to remember a situation in Romania quite similar
to Albania a few years back. Pyramid schemes thrive in a situation where
people want money but don't understand economics, and outside forces do
not step in. The eastern european pyramid schemes does not appear to be
that much a free market phenomena, rather a result of the alliance between
organized crime and the old rulers, which in many cases were quite
involved in the schemes (If you can't rule them, you could at least take
their money).
Overall, the unrest would have happened sooner or later, it needed some
igniting spark. The interesting question we should ask is what igniting
sparks that cause unrest in *our* societies...
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