Prof. Olga Verkhoglyad, Provost for Research:
Although the current calculations are that Ukraine has been taken dozens and dozens of years back because of the war, these calculations indicate only the current state of affairs. The post-war reconstruction may very well be significantly quicker, much more successful and effective. Looking at the devastations of the war, let us not make the mistake that the Nobel Prize winner (1979) Theodore Schultz addressed in his classic “Investment in Human Capital” (1971) when he wrote about the post WWII reconstruction. Here is what he wrote:
“The toll from bombing was all too visible in the factories that laid flat, the railroad yards, bridges, and harbors wrecked and the cities devastated. Structures, equipment, and inventories were all heaps of rubble. Economists were called upon to assess the implication of these wartime losses for recovery…It is clear that they overestimated the prospective retarding effects of these losses…The judgment that we formed soon after the war proved to be so far from the mark. The explanation that now is clear is that we gave altogether too much weight to nonhuman capital in making these assessments. We fell into this error … because we failed to take account of human capital and the important part that it plays in production in a modern economy (p. 34).”
The “mystery” of the quick economic post WWII recovery was later explained by well-educated, motivated population.
We, Ukrainians, want to rebuild our country. We love our country very much and we see it prosperous and successful in the future. We are well-educated and motivated to make this come true. We do not underestimate the determination and strength of the Ukrainian people for the country we love.
