Consequences of economic indoctrination

Pakistani students of economics are indoctrinated by the teachings that they have acquired in the west. This has a peculiar effect on the thought process. Any one who is indoctrinated is subjected to the inevitable. That inevitable is trying to escape from the old ideas and not in acquiring new ideas. Since by definition societies are subjected to change the old ideas must perforce give way to new ideas. If one is stagnant on the old ideas there is very little chance that the emerging situations would be allowed to match with the change in thinking in economics.

These habitual modes of thinking will not go away until and unless a nexus between neurology and psychology is established. This is an absolutely new field and requires an open manifestly mind and ‘a for a’ in which all can participate-not only economists. I do concede that the subject specialist must have deep knowledge and understanding of the subject but do they really have that depth and that horizontality that is the hallmark of a person involved in public service. The validity of economic theory as applied to the developing countries should therefore be in question. This is not scepticism but an outright assessment of the situation in which Pakistan finds itself.

Our students are not aware of what is going on and therefore they are subjected to the same and more of the same. The curriculum is horrendously stupid and ill conceived. There is no chance of a change as dissidents in this country are subjected to suspicion and even hate by the so called messiahs. This is not going to change. Does one then have to have a non-conformist economist who can begin to make sense of breaking this rigidity. My own understanding is that the extreme options suggested by these goons are put aside in favour of what is good for the many as against the few.

Pakistani universities will continue the easy route and keep on doing the obviously easy so that they can reinforce that original format. Why should there be any change in the economic education when there is no one to challenge the existing norms of economic education. There is worse to follow because of the power structure that exists in the third world the tendency of the powerful is to depend on the economists as if they have the panacea of all ills. By the time they are found out they find out they are usually on the road basking over their failures. That is further a reason for the perpetuation of the failed economic policies. Are these economic policies then to be considered as the sole source of wisdom about the manner in which a modern society is to be governed? Then in the case of Pakistan these comics must tell us why the joker policies led to the break-up of the country?

IMF/WB have desperately tried to cast the world according to the economic model. Does any one have any words of praise for them? These habitual modes of thought and expression have to be removed from the scene altogether. In Pakistan’s case, it has made a worse situation even more worse. Pakistan would be wiser if this tool kit was removed.

The high moral ground of the economists against anyone that opposed them has to be discarded. Critical thinking that reflected cultural aspects were forgotten. Can there be alternate policies? Of course there can be for how can traditional policies be implemented in Lyari, in Bhara Kahu? The reason that they displayed so much angst was indicated that they were not political analysts. The display of anti-intellectual apparently socially destructive and apparently ideological behaviour was due to deeper pathologies. They are zealous rather than dispassionate in their interventions and this is obvious from the various actions that are being taken in the here and now. Pakistani economists are incapable of developing alternate polices. There is something wrong because the economists are more or less urban-oriented while the bulk of the people live in the rural areas. I once asked an international economist who was here working in the Planning Commission whether he had ever walked the pagdandi (katcha path) when the rice is being transplanted. Some of these foreign-induced Ministers had had never seen agricultural land in Pakistan. In examining the lot of the Pakistani farmers it will be clear that these guys from the Ivy league universities are thick skinned and have no sensitivities to local conditions. How such smart people did create such bad policies? Were the smart people unable to understand what smart economic policies were? But all that is in the past. What are these economists sitting in high government offices suggesting for the social upheavals in Balochistan, KPK and now Sindh. Barren thoughts and no action to ameliorate the poverty of the poor has been the hallmark of these western trained insensitive economists. The feeling that economic theory is sound and thus it alone can big picture has led some of the policy makers to accept the fact that they alone have the magic wand to develop a country. The process of development has led to many conflicts in developing countries and the growing conflict is due mainly to unequal development in the respective countries. The policies of these smart economists are that they think they know how the market works. That the perfect market they speak of actually exists when the flaws in the market functioning is fundamentally flawed. The market is not the source of ultimate benefit. The mechanisms of the market economy are not operating even minimally and the mafias are managing the market to their advantage. There are logical inconsistencies, specious assumptions, errant notions and predictions that do not follow from the data that they assume to be correct.

There is much more to this. But in the context of Pakistan how is it relevant to discuss what may be more relevant to Washington. The social scientists have another problem and that is they deal more in concepts. These concepts are more difficult to handle given that they are work places in the mind and not physically visible. Pakistan’s policymakers had better come to grips with the issues. What intervention by the government is glamorous is not necessarily better. The youth festivals by that criterion are wasteful. Is Pakistan being led by the blind and are the followers partially sighted. I have not touched upon the weaknesses brought about by the use of mathematics. That is a different world altogether. There no more nice guys. Dissect all that you can to emerge in this world and try to be successful. Pray that the conflicts are defused.