An invitation to economists

By Usvatte-aratchi

Our economy has declined over the last three years. There are inevitably partisan explanations of what caused the decline. For me now, seeking causes is far less important than finding ways of working ourselves out of this misery. What I fail to see are statements on the nature and extent of the decline, including differences among regions and income groups; probable trajectories of these processes during the next five years; feasible alternative recovery paths and their consequences on the populace, differentiating among income and regions. I would also expect an exploration into who, meaning what agencies, can work to bring about these changes.

There are plenty and more competent persons in our universities to do this work. There might emerge more than one set of conclusions. They must all be welcomed. There might emerge a consensus. We are economists and have no copyright on consensus building; Keynes walked out of the Versailles Peace Conference and came home abandoning the discussions in Washington DC to establish intergovernmental financial institutions. Let differences flourish. If you let numbers argue your case, wild differences are likely to be less. Numbers are beautiful that way.

This sort of exercise is essential as politicians and political parties shy away from informing the public reasonably clear ideas about their own diagnoses and prescriptions. They go about announcing bombastically that if they were installed in office, they would solve the problems. My own understanding is that there is no such solution, all solutions will take time. The current situation in the country is one in which the public need to be taken into confidence. Nobody can solve these dire and complex problems affecting lives and livelihoods of millions of people without the understanding and the cooperation of the public.

It is time for the profession of economists to go out and lay bare their understandings. I know that there is no organisation that will initiate and finance this kind of operation, because it will not guarantee them tenure in Tavatinsa. The profession must stand up to it. Most of the work can be done online with clusters in our universities. All meetings can be on Zoom. Consequently, this effort must be paid for by economists with their own sweat and tears. It would be a fantastic learning opportunity. I personally do have neither the energy nor the wealth to help in the project. In the event that it may be necessary to buy some small amount of stationary, I will offer some money for the purpose. There may be other volunteers. Most economists will contribute with their own labour. Their output will see the profession’s labour well rewarded.