How is this 'theory' unknown outside Russia? And is this not the Western minimax principle of its holy grace, sacrosanct capitalist ideology: "liveliest initiatives directed at seeking maximum personal gain with a minimum expenditure of effort"?

Don't get me wrong. That is a terrible explanation, in itself, devoid of any real quality. And at the same time, ironically, or even farcically, that makes this answer – wait for it – really brilliant!

But it would be improved a lot in contextualising the explanation.

@LangLangC In a capitalist state, individual people's strategies maximizing personal gain also bring great benefit to the society. And it is not the case In a communist state. To maximize your personal gain in a communist state, you have to learn how to trick the system. It is a dirty business or "social chess."

@LangLangC There were no private companies in the USSR at all. The salary of any worker was determined by a formula based on age, working experience, occupation, etc. It did not depend on performance AT ALL. And to get that salary, a worker just had to avoid punitive actions. He did not have any positive motivation. He did only what was required to avoid getting punished.

Regarding the paragraph about the continuing poor worker morale of East Germans and Russians: Could this be the result of selection bias? In other words, have most of today's hard-working Eastern Europeans moved to Western Europe and America? I live in the United States. I have worked with and/or employed many people from the former Soviet Union. They were all hard workers. They also spoke English surprisingly well, which indicates that they had put a lot of effort into learning English.

During the Cold War, this theory was a major theme of conservative and libertarian arguments in favor of capitalism.

@Jasper Sandra was obviously in West-Germany only were bigoted people told her about a stereotype they have. This answer has only one argument, takes it for the truth and sees it everywhere (not even realising that the Korea example makes it most explicit), making it even essentialist for people, insulting them in the process. Coming from a family of совок, or homo sovieticus that must be right enough to compare entire different countries with this one совок as a yardstick.

@Jasper My view is that the Russians who migrated from Russia to Western countries are not a representative sample of Russia's population. To migrate from Russia, people need to have a courage, valuable skills, knowledge of a foreign language, and to make real efforts. The average migrant from Russia and the average Russian living in Russia are two very different people. There are still many talented and initiative people left in Russia, but they are a minority in Russia. But only those who belong to that minority migrate from Russia.

@LangLangC Stereotypes do not come into existence out of nothing. If Western Germans see Eastern Germans just as South Koreans see North Koreans, there must be a reason for this.

Aha. So while Germans stereotype Poles as lazy especially in handiwork, the English stereotype Poles as very diligent, speedy and industrious especially in handiwork. And both are correct? Because they are stereotypes?

@LangLangC I heard about neither of the stereotypes you just mentioned. I lived in Germany and know very well that the German stereotype about Poles is not about the ability to work.

Polski hydraulik is just one of them. And it is as crazy as the German 'lazy Poles' when farms hire annually almost exclusively Eastern European workers, instead of German ones who are on holiday then. Much like 'Mexicans' in California, working hard while the President just peddles a completely different reality. Stereotypes on that aggregate a level have quite the reach but very limited validity and thus value.

@LangLangC My understanding is that German farms hire Poles because Polish workers agree to smaller salaries than German workers do. Anyway, what's your explanation of why practically all post-communist countries don't do well economically even decades after the collapse of the communist system? Just compare the GDP per capita for post-communist countries and Western countries. In my post, I compared Albania and Greece. How can you explain this?

@Sandra I experienced the same mentality in Poland in 1970's and 80's. Some of those generations may had a problem adapting afterwards, but those generations that grew up later grew out of it since the cause no longer existed. One sign of this is that more Ukrainians are hired today on farms. The world envolves, while the belief in Steretypes doesn't, but that is the problem of the 'believers'.

If you compare Albania to Greece you compare Apples and Samsungs in terms of fridges. Why not communist China and NK (with negative selection?) to Zimbabwe (capitalist paradise)? Your negative selection theory doesn't get inherited ala Lyssenko into populations, but it is perhaps a structural phenomenon; & one that is typical for hierarchies, everywhere. It's akin to Peter principle and Potemkin.*Not* unique to Soviet/Russia. Are these structures in place in Poland/Hungary/Estonia or in London/Berlin/Washington? Please emphasise 'one popular' & change "they even use it 2 explain why now"?

Bulgaria and Greece would probably be a more realistic comparison. Yugoslavia would be nearer to Greece, but should not be considerd a typical east-block country.

@MarkJohnson That'd still be different countries, different before, different during and after. For such a comparison we'd need to establish a measure of 'negative selection', then measure that quantitatively within each country at a few points in time, then compare that. While trying that, we'd also need to control for confounding factors, like outright corruption, international pressures, international markets, etc…

Point being: taking this one universal effect as heritable and stereotype=truth for certain people(s)/populations and "this explains everything" is not a very productive approach.

Neither for answering the question, that was at hand, nor for picking the best answer that underpins it.

@LangLangC I concur. Comparing East-Germany, Poland and CSSR is not really possible. Differnt backgrounds combined with different circumstances lead to different results. The one answer about Russia, which I also noted in Poland is however valid. But it is only one portion of the total equation.