Letting the cat out of the bag

Four editions of Midweek Discourse, the title of this column, have already been published without giving the reader a clear sense of what to expect next. The maiden edition discoursed “Ending delay in presenting budget to parliament” (19/11/2014).

This was followed on 26/11/2014 by “Towards a framework for dealing with campaign promises”, and then “A stress test for ‘Delta beyond oil’ policy”, and, finally, “Teaching economics in the law faculty”, which was published last Wednesday.

In the spirit of making this column more reader-friendly, we decided to end the guessing game by indicating clearly that Midweek Discourse is designed to entertain the reader with a focus on the application of economic analysis to the illumination of public affairs.

A common observation is that ranking officials in the executive branch, members of the national and state assemblies and the judiciary all talk about the Nigerian economy, sometimes without an ounce of economic literacy and some understanding of the facts behind the issues on which they pontificate. They are in the same boat as editorial writers, business and labour leaders, TV pundits and social critics.

It is possible to compile a long list of the issues that they discuss without reference to the vital facts. Such a list would include questions about how rich the Nigerian economy is today compared with other times in our history and other countries; how the national income is divided between profits and labour compensation and what the trend has been; what Nigerians spend their money on; what a recession is and how it affects individuals and corporate bodies; what is happening to the relative earnings of men and women over time; the extent of poverty; who benefits from Nigeria’s oil wealth; the extent of corruption and its effects on citizen welfare.

Other issues that feature prominently on a list of economic issues of public interest would include: the effects of budget deficits; what drives economic growth in our economy; why motherhood is most unsafe in Nigeria; the incidence of taxation; why governments find it difficult to implement budgets and the macroeconomic consequences of insider dealing on the stock market.

On methodology, there is need for enlightenment on how economists measure the national income; changes in the quality of life; income inequality; incidence of poverty; consumer, business and investor confidence; return on investment in various sectors of the economy; economic benefits of education and similar topics relevant to informed national discourse.

Indeed, economics is a versatile discipline that has gone beyond describing the workings of markets, methods of trade, patterns in industrial and commercial life, employment and inflation. It has moved on to address studies on poverty and wealth; racial, sexual and religious discrimination; politics; bureaucracy; crime; law; revolution; committee structures; criminal justice systems; ethics; voting rules and the legislative system.

Most economists would agree that what distinguishes their field from other social science disciplines like sociology is the approach which economists take towards the study of human behaviour. We believe that the economist working as a journalist has a responsibility to contribute to the education of his audience on the salient features of the economist’s approach.

Beyond that, he is expected to demonstrate how public policies affect the market system, how economic principles can be used to understand the political affairs of men and women and to appreciate why certain types of public policies can be expected to emerge from democratic institutions like the national assembly and its state counterparts.

This column believes that people living in a democracy are entrusted with the responsibility for judging and evaluating the relative merits of conflicting arguments. Given the low economic literacy rate in our country, most policymakers and the average citizen alike require help to sustain their active, alert responsibility for the wise conduct of government.

We seek to contribute to meeting that need through a mass media product specifically designed to promote economic literacy and evidence-based public policy discourse.

Weneso Orogun