On Tuesday, 11 August 2015, the Economic Club of Ulaanbaatar will present Ken Schoolland, Associate Professor of Economics and Political Science from Hawaii, to speak on the topic of “Trade, Migration and Entrepreneurship: Path to Prosperity” from 12-2.00pm at the Tuushin Hotel.
Ken Schoolland is an Associate Professor of Economics and Director of the Entrepreneurship Center at Hawaii Pacific University in Honolulu. Schoolland is President of the International Society for Individual Liberty, and a member of the Board of Scholars for the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii and of the Mont Pelerin Society.
He has authored The Adventures of Jonathan Gullible: A Free Market Odyssey, now published in 77 editions in 50 languages. Based on the book, four plays have toured Africa, Europe, and Kazakhstan. The book release will be held on August 10th at the Internom Bookstore at 11 AM.
Let’s start with how have you become familiar with the Silk Road Foundation?
Mr Tsenguun first has attended the conference that we organized in 2012 in Shanghai Austrian Economic Summit, which is being organized every year with my organization International Society for Individual Liberty where we have an international reach with our audience. We have a lot of camps around the world trying to educate young people about free market ideas. Because I met him and they have published my book previously, Free Market book, which makes the 80th edition of my book published in 50 languages. The second edition in Mongolian language will be released on Monday, August 10th.
The day before you will be giving a lecture?
That is right. It is very exciting to me, as I first came to Mongolia 22 years ago and had a great excitement about the great potential Mongolia had at that time. I see that the market reforms have made a world of difference here. And still the market reforms will make a lot difference in the future, as they have done in other countries as well. But there are many countries facing trouble and I usually hold out the examples of positive activities that show a good pathway to continued prosperity.
Am I right if I say that you are doing research on free market experiences in newly or restored democracies?
My activities have been worldwide, but I might admit that I am novice about Mongolia. I have been here many years ago before the transition and in that regard, I am eager to study what have been successful here. I am here to help with the activities of the Free Market Academy, to help young people to understand the principles of free markets ideas, about the importance of low taxes, secure rights to property in contracts, good open trade and migration. I see the migration as one of the most important factors to economic entrepreneurship and growth. These are the things I will be talking about at the Free Market Academy next weekend.
Who do you expect the audiences to be?
On the event on Tuesday at the Economic Club, I am expecting the people in the business community and people in the academic world, who are interested in free market ideas. I will be talking about trade, migration, and entrepreneurship as a path to prosperity. And I will be for the release of the book.
Have you done studies on Mongolian market yet?
I am very new to Mongolia. Actually the invitation came up just a few weeks ago. They had invited me a year ago to come, but the time was too short to make the arrangement at that time. This year a few weeks ago we made contacts again during my visit in China after my lectures in Cambodia, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. I am not coming here as an expert on Mongolia, but I am an enthusiast of the free market idea around the world.
How do you see the potential for Mongolia in that aspect of growth?
As always there is struggle, a competition between those who want to have greater power over people’s lives and people who want to have their own freedom. When I first came here Mongolia was just breaking away from the control of the Soviet Union and I think your life would have been very different had you remained under that system, like the difference between North Korea and South Korea today, with more restrained individual freedom. And because of those positive changes Mongolia is on the path of enjoying marvelous life with the help of free market reforms.
How much bigger impact did the principles of the free market have in the development of the bigger economies that we can adopt here?
The best example that I like point to, is that of New Zealand. They were the slowest growing economy in the industrial world and they borrowed heavily, deeply in the debt when their credit ran out in 1984. There was a switch from the National Party to the Labour Party and it was the Labour Party that implemented the most radical free market reforms of the 20th century for an industrial country. They tremendously opened up their trade, reduced the taxes, and ended the subsidies for the very specialized, favoured economic groups. They have become the star of the economic performance and have become the fastest growing economies in the industrial world. But there are many examples of best practices Estonia, Botswana, Chile. My own country, it is sad to say, is going in the opposite direction. The United States has been dropping on the rankings by its economic freedom. There is no single country with the best practices. For example China, although it ranks very far with the economic freedom some parts of it are opening up and are becoming the engines of the growth.
Free market and trade definitely boosts the economic growth, but Mongolia is sandwiched between Russia and China. How do you see Mongolia in this aspect?
Perfect. Look at Hong Kong. It was a just rock at the edge of China. But they have become the free trade zone and didn’t even expect the equal treatment from other countries. They said if you have barriers against us, we would trade with someone else. This drew all the advantages of the resources available outside. By allowing the greatest degree of freedom they brought in an astounding growth, Singapore as well. They didn’t have the resources and they were sandwiched between worlds of many great economies. The size doesn’t determine your ability to produce genius ideas and to produce the jobs and wealth. They have increased the per capita GDP by over 40 times. Singapore and Hong Kong were the poorest countries in the world and have become richer than the former colonial rulers. And there is no reason to say that Mongolia cannot have the same kind of growth.
Whenever I am told that remote areas cannot become the oasis for the growth I am always reminded of Las Vegas. Las Vegas was just the desert. But simply by allowing more economic freedom in that part of the world, the world gravitated to it, a desert. Wherever you are in the world opening up to freedom and free people you can have great prosperity.
Is it about the navigating the human resources in the right direction so that it creates the wealth by giving the freedom of choice?
That is right. Because every one has tremendous potential within them and it is inspired a lot by competition. Usually government’s behavior is driven towards crippling the competition, outlaw the competition, license the competition. But the impulse of a human being is opposite, because you never know where the genius comes from. New ideas come from the outside of the system or from ones who are much more visionaries.
Does educating people become the major factor seeing from that human being aspect?
I think that education doesn’t come from the academic world. Real education comes from doing. There is a book in US that says “A students work for C students,” which means that C students who weren’t doing good in an academic world, they can do brilliantly in the real world, because they are doing a lot of things in the practice that academic world is too rigid for. Academic world is suited for somebody; it is not necessarily suited for everybody, because everyone learns in different ways.
How does one develop the entrepreneurial mind or skills?
I think, a lot of this comes from being challenged. The soft and easy life is not necessarily conducive to the challenge. That is why the migration is an important selector for the kinds of people who are courageous enough to take on a hard part of life. They had to overcome hardships. They are more hungry and desperate and they are the ones who are willing to take the adventure. And I admire them, I think they are heroic figures that should be embraced and welcomed. Usually people are fearful of newcomers and they reject them and a lot of times people reject the liberty, which is the most basic part of human improvement, allowing people to create and to move.
About the Silk Road Foundation that invited you here. How do you assess their activities held in Mongolia?
I am very impressed with them. The people I met so far are very well read, very knowledgeable and dedicated to free market ideas. What they are doing far surpassed what is being done in my state. My state Hawaii is a very nice place to visit, but it is one of the heavily controlled states by the government. And interestingly there are a lot of people moving out of Hawaii rather than moving in.
I am very impressed with the business people at the Silk Road Foundation with their Economic Club and Free Market Academy. These are kinds of activities I would like to adopt in Hawaii, where I come from.
They have translated number of books and published in Mongolian language. I am pleased that my own book was published here as well. There is such an enthusiasm that is quite impressive. To me it suggests that there is great future here.
Thank you for your time and wishing you success with the lectures.
On Tuesday, 11 August 2015, the Economic Club of Ulaanbaatar will present Ken Schoolland, Associate Professor of Economics and Political Science from Hawaii, to speak on the topic of “Trade, Migration and Entrepreneurship: Path to Prosperity” from 12-2.00pm at the Tuushin Hotel.
Ken Schoolland is an Associate Professor of Economics and Director of the Entrepreneurship Center at Hawaii Pacific University in Honolulu. Schoolland is President of the International Society for Individual Liberty, and a member of the Board of Scholars for the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii and of the Mont Pelerin Society.
He has authored The Adventures of Jonathan Gullible: A Free Market Odyssey, now published in 77 editions in 50 languages. Based on the book, four plays have toured Africa, Europe, and Kazakhstan. The book release will be held on August 10th at the Internom Bookstore at 11 AM.
Let’s start with how have you become familiar with the Silk Road Foundation?
Mr Tsenguun first has attended the conference that we organized in 2012 in Shanghai Austrian Economic Summit, which is being organized every year with my organization International Society for Individual Liberty where we have an international reach with our audience. We have a lot of camps around the world trying to educate young people about free market ideas. Because I met him and they have published my book previously, Free Market book, which makes the 80th edition of my book published in 50 languages. The second edition in Mongolian language will be released on Monday, August 10th.
The day before you will be giving a lecture?
That is right. It is very exciting to me, as I first came to Mongolia 22 years ago and had a great excitement about the great potential Mongolia had at that time. I see that the market reforms have made a world of difference here. And still the market reforms will make a lot difference in the future, as they have done in other countries as well. But there are many countries facing trouble and I usually hold out the examples of positive activities that show a good pathway to continued prosperity.
Am I right if I say that you are doing research on free market experiences in newly or restored democracies?
My activities have been worldwide, but I might admit that I am novice about Mongolia. I have been here many years ago before the transition and in that regard, I am eager to study what have been successful here. I am here to help with the activities of the Free Market Academy, to help young people to understand the principles of free markets ideas, about the importance of low taxes, secure rights to property in contracts, good open trade and migration. I see the migration as one of the most important factors to economic entrepreneurship and growth. These are the things I will be talking about at the Free Market Academy next weekend.
Who do you expect the audiences to be?
On the event on Tuesday at the Economic Club, I am expecting the people in the business community and people in the academic world, who are interested in free market ideas. I will be talking about trade, migration, and entrepreneurship as a path to prosperity. And I will be for the release of the book.
Have you done studies on Mongolian market yet?
I am very new to Mongolia. Actually the invitation came up just a few weeks ago. They had invited me a year ago to come, but the time was too short to make the arrangement at that time. This year a few weeks ago we made contacts again during my visit in China after my lectures in Cambodia, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. I am not coming here as an expert on Mongolia, but I am an enthusiast of the free market idea around the world.
How do you see the potential for Mongolia in that aspect of growth?
As always there is struggle, a competition between those who want to have greater power over people’s lives and people who want to have their own freedom. When I first came here Mongolia was just breaking away from the control of the Soviet Union and I think your life would have been very different had you remained under that system, like the difference between North Korea and South Korea today, with more restrained individual freedom. And because of those positive changes Mongolia is on the path of enjoying marvelous life with the help of free market reforms.
How much bigger impact did the principles of the free market have in the development of the bigger economies that we can adopt here?
The best example that I like point to, is that of New Zealand. They were the slowest growing economy in the industrial world and they borrowed heavily, deeply in the debt when their credit ran out in 1984. There was a switch from the National Party to the Labour Party and it was the Labour Party that implemented the most radical free market reforms of the 20th century for an industrial country. They tremendously opened up their trade, reduced the taxes, and ended the subsidies for the very specialized, favoured economic groups. They have become the star of the economic performance and have become the fastest growing economies in the industrial world. But there are many examples of best practices Estonia, Botswana, Chile. My own country, it is sad to say, is going in the opposite direction. The United States has been dropping on the rankings by its economic freedom. There is no single country with the best practices. For example China, although it ranks very far with the economic freedom some parts of it are opening up and are becoming the engines of the growth.
Free market and trade definitely boosts the economic growth, but Mongolia is sandwiched between Russia and China. How do you see Mongolia in this aspect?
Perfect. Look at Hong Kong. It was a just rock at the edge of China. But they have become the free trade zone and didn’t even expect the equal treatment from other countries. They said if you have barriers against us, we would trade with someone else. This drew all the advantages of the resources available outside. By allowing the greatest degree of freedom they brought in an astounding growth, Singapore as well. They didn’t have the resources and they were sandwiched between worlds of many great economies. The size doesn’t determine your ability to produce genius ideas and to produce the jobs and wealth. They have increased the per capita GDP by over 40 times. Singapore and Hong Kong were the poorest countries in the world and have become richer than the former colonial rulers. And there is no reason to say that Mongolia cannot have the same kind of growth.
Whenever I am told that remote areas cannot become the oasis for the growth I am always reminded of Las Vegas. Las Vegas was just the desert. But simply by allowing more economic freedom in that part of the world, the world gravitated to it, a desert. Wherever you are in the world opening up to freedom and free people you can have great prosperity.
Is it about the navigating the human resources in the right direction so that it creates the wealth by giving the freedom of choice?
That is right. Because every one has tremendous potential within them and it is inspired a lot by competition. Usually government’s behavior is driven towards crippling the competition, outlaw the competition, license the competition. But the impulse of a human being is opposite, because you never know where the genius comes from. New ideas come from the outside of the system or from ones who are much more visionaries.
Does educating people become the major factor seeing from that human being aspect?
I think that education doesn’t come from the academic world. Real education comes from doing. There is a book in US that says “A students work for C students,” which means that C students who weren’t doing good in an academic world, they can do brilliantly in the real world, because they are doing a lot of things in the practice that academic world is too rigid for. Academic world is suited for somebody; it is not necessarily suited for everybody, because everyone learns in different ways.
How does one develop the entrepreneurial mind or skills?
I think, a lot of this comes from being challenged. The soft and easy life is not necessarily conducive to the challenge. That is why the migration is an important selector for the kinds of people who are courageous enough to take on a hard part of life. They had to overcome hardships. They are more hungry and desperate and they are the ones who are willing to take the adventure. And I admire them, I think they are heroic figures that should be embraced and welcomed. Usually people are fearful of newcomers and they reject them and a lot of times people reject the liberty, which is the most basic part of human improvement, allowing people to create and to move.
About the Silk Road Foundation that invited you here. How do you assess their activities held in Mongolia?
I am very impressed with them. The people I met so far are very well read, very knowledgeable and dedicated to free market ideas. What they are doing far surpassed what is being done in my state. My state Hawaii is a very nice place to visit, but it is one of the heavily controlled states by the government. And interestingly there are a lot of people moving out of Hawaii rather than moving in.
I am very impressed with the business people at the Silk Road Foundation with their Economic Club and Free Market Academy. These are kinds of activities I would like to adopt in Hawaii, where I come from.
They have translated number of books and published in Mongolian language. I am pleased that my own book was published here as well. There is such an enthusiasm that is quite impressive. To me it suggests that there is great future here.
Thank you for your time and wishing you success with the lectures.