UKRAINIANS’ ATTITUDE TOWARDS ECONOMIC FREEDOM

Abstract

The population's attitude to economic freedom in Ukraine and in countries leading in the world ranking The Index of Economic Freedom is compared. Among Ukrainians, favorable attitude towards increasing the share of private property in business is found to be much less widespread, instead, the support for state property is significantly bigger.

It is shown that the reasons for these differences lie in the fact that because of their age, about 38% of the Ukrainian population (as of 2020) was formed in the Soviet socialization system, and a certain part of this age cohort remains sensitive to outdated ideas of absolutizing the role of the state, paternalism, collectivism etc., which largely accounts for the slow pace of social consciousness’s transformation from archaic to modern. In addition, the collective consciousness retains the unsuccessful experience of large-scale privatization in the 1990s, from which the absolute majority of Ukrainians, despite government’s promises, did not receive a tangible profit, instead, amid a decline in their well-being, they observed the rapid enrichment of a minority of fellow citizens, perceived as unfair. Since then, a part of the society does not trust the government's reforms, expecting from them yet another enrichment of the rich through the impoverishment of the poor. A comparison of the public opinion of Ukrainians and residents of countries leading in the economic freedom ranking convincingly demonstrates that Ukrainians have much less trust in the parliamentary, executive, and judicial branches of government.

The advisability of introducing a state policy to enhance economic freedom in the post-war Ukrainian society is shown; it is predicted that the success of such a policy will largely depend on the choice of the optimal for the current transitional society (with remnants of archaic mental stereotypes) model of reforms with a reasonable ratio of economic liberalism and restrictions on the part of the state; on the quality of the dialogue between the state and society, aimed at transparently conveying the content and benefits of the necessary reforms, overcoming the tradition of mistrust of them, ensuring public support.