Difference between revisions of "Avos (Russia)"

In an economic context, despite seeming similarities, the ‘spotting a break’ and the ‘letting things happen’ of avos’ are very different from the laissez-faire attitude of the model capitalist entrepreneur described by Friedrich Hayek (2002). The latter is an opportunist, flitting here and there, navigating by intuition and grazing on lucky breaks; but he or she still takes account of the rules of the game and the laws of the state, and must peg an operation to the calculated choices of the multitude of economic actors. Avos’ on the other hand supposes a proper cosmic chaos. It does not expect there to be rules or statistical regularities—none, at any rate, that the actor can discern. Practice by avos’ mirrors such an unpredictable world: sly, yet inconsistent, and happening according to whim. Thus it operates beyond any strategies of circumscription by means of rules, laws or governmental techniques. The more the economic environment does indeed manifest itself as arbitrary, unreliable and beyond the law, the more attractive and appropriate does acting by avos’ become.

In an economic context, despite seeming similarities, the ‘spotting a break’ and the ‘letting things happen’ of avos’ are very different from the laissez-faire attitude of the model capitalist entrepreneur described by Friedrich Hayek (2002). The latter is an opportunist, flitting here and there, navigating by intuition and grazing on lucky breaks; but he or she still takes account of the rules of the game and the laws of the state, and must peg an operation to the calculated choices of the multitude of economic actors. Avos’ on the other hand supposes a proper cosmic chaos. It does not expect there to be rules or statistical regularities—none, at any rate, that the actor can discern. Practice by avos’ mirrors such an unpredictable world: sly, yet inconsistent, and happening according to whim. Thus it operates beyond any strategies of circumscription by means of rules, laws or governmental techniques. The more the economic environment does indeed manifest itself as arbitrary, unreliable and beyond the law, the more attractive and appropriate does acting by avos’ become.