XPost: soc.culture.baltics, soc.culture.czecho-slovak, soc.culture.russian
XPost: soc.culture.nordic, soc.culture.baltics
From: kurkku@hassuserveri.fi
"Eugene Holman" kirjoitti
viestissä:holman-1308080939230001@c518-m3.eng.helsinki.fi...
> In article
> , David
> Friedman wrote:
>
>
>
>> Further, your point about the difference between the official exchange
>> rate and the market exchange rate--four to one is a higher ratio that I
>> would have guessed--supports the idea that payment in rubles at somewhat
>> more than world prices--using the official rate to convert--would in
>> fact be payment at far below world prices.
>
> It is more complex than that. There were several official exchange rates
> for the ruble, some of them state secrets, in international trade within
> the socialist block, depending on what was being traded and with whom. The
> black-market rate was not the same as a market exchange rate, since it
> included a risk factor and other variables. The work that a person did to
>
One of the "official" rates were "tourist" rates which were hands down the
most expensive ones. For instance in GDR this rate was 1:1 with the
bundesmark. From January 1st 1988 onwards the Finnish citizens were nor
required visas anymore for short term tourist visits.Nor did we have to
chance any money at that currency rate at borders. When I visited Berlin in
January 1988 the rate was about 1:7 in banks in West Berlin. In summer 1989
the rate was around 1:9 or 1:10. A pint of lager cost some 50 East German
pfennings. In a fancy restaurant a three course meal cost something like 10
marks. Yes, it was cheap in those days. And naturally it was illegal to
smuggle in East German money from the other side of the border. Finns just
appear so honest to everyone. It is our destiny.
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
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