State-Owned vs. Privately-Owned Enterprises

In the pictures below, you can kind of see the difference between what private companies provide to customers and what state-owned enterprises offer.

Tajik Air is owned by the government of Tajikistan, and the amenities on the flight were a bit lacking -- even by modern US airline standards. On the flight back from Tajikistan, there was a woman in my row who found out before takeoff that her seat did not have a safety belt. I think I was more worried about it than she was, though.

Somon Air is owned by a private investment company and seems to have a much better idea of customer service -- cleaner plane, nicer meal, better dressed flight attendants.

It's generally difficult to explain what my job entails now, but it's basically improving the economic situation in the countries where we work. It's common wisdom that, in market economies, private companies are better at delivering goods and services than the government. Countries transitioning from state-directed to market-directed economies offer a good lens to view the difference between what the state can provide and what private companies can provide to customers.

In the case of Tajikistan, there is still significant government control over the economy (through a variety of overt and covert methods), but there are glimmers of private enterprise showing through, like Somon Air. It seems surprising that -- despite over-regulation, corruption, and other problems -- people still find ways to make business work. The key is to find ways to get the government out of the way to let businesses grow -- or fail -- as the market determines. That's what drives economic growth and employment. And gets you two hard-boiled eggs on your your flight to Dushanbe.