Dickson Igwe. Photo: VINO/File

And unsurprisingly, the man was unable to give an immediate answer; apart from casting ‘aggressive aspersions’ on this Old Boy’s political choices and viewpoint. When this Old Boy meets the ‘Would Be Senator’ again, as he surely will, he will ask the same question. Hopefully the man will have a coherent vision for the country by then. This Voter will certainly not be voting for any party without a national vision, and a clear mission, on how to get to El Dorado, come 2016.

Now, possessing a national economic vision by government appears to be crucial to good governance and effective development planning. An economic vision requires the incorporation by a political party of an economic philosophy. If elected that philosophy becomes the governing philosophy on scarce resource management.

Now, any objective observer of modern politics will swiftly determine that possessing an economic philosophy is a tool of effective governance, and equally effective policy making. Successful politics is a synonym for successful economics: “IT IS THE ECONOMY STUPID’’ is a popular mantra in politics.

The possession of an economic philosophy by Jack the Politician is equivalent to Jack and his team of ministers and cronies, having a systemic understanding of economic policy matters, based on rigorous and systematic inquiry of relevant aspects of the subject matter of economics.

However, any concept of economic policy must be appropriate to achieving the country’s visionary goals.

The economic philosophy undergirds the government’s economic mission. That philosophy, or intellectual culture, is crucial for showing the most effective way of getting the country from A to B to C economically.

The economic philosophy should be simple to explain and broadly accepted by policy makers. The economic philosophy should also achieve some degree of bipartisanship. But above all the economic philosophy must underpin the governing mission, to achieve the national economic vision.

The philosophy on the economy is the basis for the economic road map to EL DORADO: the place of safety, freedom, pleasure, and bounty. The economic philosophy is the platform that carries the economic mission and economic blueprint. It describes the core guiding principles from which government will manage the country’s scarce resources to achieve the national vision.

In the quest to adopt an economic philosophy, the smart politician looks to his economic team to provide a theory, one that will lead to the vision of a safe, prosperous and free society.

The economist, in turn, provides the politician with various economic options based on economic theory likely to accomplish the visionary goal. That theory forms the basis of all weighting and policy determination, in terms of growing and managing the economy in line with the national vision.

The economist will usually have an idea on the policy and planning that will achieve the national vision, based on their own experience of the subject. Modern economics is rooted in history and philosophy, and borrows greatly from the classic inquiry of early thinkers like Adam Smith, Thomas Malthus, Karl Marx, and David Ricardo.

More contemporary thinkers include Milton Friedman, John Maynard Keynes, both late, and a host of economists, many of these Nobel Peace Prize Winners, whose comments are listened to with seriousness and gravity, by global policy makers.
Economics also possesses a fair degree of math, especially in determining probability, and in building models for hypothesis.

OK. The national economic vision should be specific. A specific economic vision makes the economic mission unambiguous, and allows for the establishment of an appropriate economic philosophy to guide that mission.

However, if the politician and his party have no vision at all about where they want the economy and country in say 5 to 10 years; then placing him or her in the seat of power will be a very foolish thing indeed.

To be continued

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