Studying capitalism from a different perspective
I am special. Not in the way that many people from Utah are special. I mean, I am really special.
I know this because just last night as I walked through a market in Peru I met a number of very friendly people who wanted me to do business with them. Each of them, without fail, would show me an item and tell me how much regular people had to pay for it and then tell me what price would be. My price was always lower.
You may think that is just a coincidence, but I discovered the same thing in Rio de Janeiro. Street vendors always had a special price just for me. I’ve tried not to let this go to my head. I’ve tried to ignore the fact that several vendors gathered in the street outside the hotel and practically cheered when they caught a glimpse of me walking by.
I’m now in Lima, Peru, with a group of 42 students who are on a Utah State University Jon M. Huntsman School of Business study abroad trip in South America. It’s an experience that has given us unusually varied and direct insight into the economy and people of Chile, Brazil and Peru.
Today we went to the Institute for Liberty and Democracy, an organization headed up by Hernando de Soto, who wrote the "Mystery of Capital." His organization has studied why capitalism has fared so well in the West but failed in other countries. In his book, which was required reading for the students, he maintains that a key reason capitalism has failed to catch on in other areas is that the sophisticated system that we have in the United States where people can draw capital from the fact that they own property, has yet to evolve in other countries. In many of those countries people don’t officially own land and there is no consistent system they can use to borrow money based on their assets.
Some might foolishly argue that people in third-world countries just lack the entrepreneurial spirit and drive to make a go of things. De Soto says in his book: "The cities of the Third World and the former communist countries are teeming with entrepreneurs. You cannot walk through a Middle Eastern market, hike up to a Latin American village or climb onto a taxicab in Moscow without someone trying to make a deal with you."
This is something we experienced today. We discovered a man selling ties on the street for $7 and soon there were about 15 of us gathered around him bartering for ties. The surprised vendor looked like he’d suddenly become Donald Trump. The more interest we expressed in his ties, the broader his smile.
Soon someone arrived who wanted to shine our shoes. We had no initial interest in such a service and the soft-spoken man spoke little English but before we had moved on he had shined several sets of shoes and done such a good job that he earned tips that probably more than doubled the modest amount he charged us.
At the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business we are trying to teach the students how to recognize and seize opportunities. They have also met with top government and local leaders. In fact, later today Alfonso Lopez, a man who was a presidential candidate in Peru and is now the director of the Central Reserve Bank here will be visiting students in our hotel. This bank sets the monetary policy for Peru that helps keep the country from slipping into a cycle of runaway inflation.
The combination of experts from major companies, universities and government organizations, coupled with the interaction that students are experiencing daily as they do things as simple as order strange food and drinks is offering all of us unusual insight into cultures that are now part of our global neighborhood.
I was with a group of students today that was looking for a place to eat when a man came out on the sidewalk to make a case for why we should visit his restaurant. The man was quite excited about the prospect of us coming to eat at his establishment, I assume because he could see that I am special. I didn’t say anything so that all the students would feel special too and went along with the group to settle in for lunch.
A returned LDS missionary, John Ward, maliciously convinced us to order a special dish he said is very popular in Peru. It turned out to be raw fish soaked in lime juice. It was followed by what I thought would be a taco but was instead a large pile of very spicy rice with and egg on top of it. The students gobbled up the raw fish, as if nothing was wrong with it, and I too started to swallow the slimy meal before I came to my senses and put it aside.
They mocked me but it didn’t matter. I know that no matter what they say there are vendors who recognize my inner strength and purity of character. They know I am special, a chosen person who knows the importance of buying key chains, T-shirts and Peruvian ash trays. They are entrepreneurs and they can see a "special" person a mile away.