The Hindu Business Line : Good, bad and economics

IS THERE anything absolutely `good' or `evil'? Or, is everything a combination of good and bad? Mahatma Gandhi maintained that while man combines in him both the angel and the devil, the aim of social reformers should be to enable people foster the former and subdue the latter. Is such a train of thought relevant to economic issues? No doubt, it is said to be a normative science with definite objectives. But where `morals' are concerned, we are told that it remains neutral!

It is interesting to find how certain phenomena, apparently harmful and undesirable, are justified by economists on grounds of contributing revenue to the exchequer, as in the case of prohibition. Likewise, with inflation.

Besides, certain known factors, even criminal activities such as smuggling, black-marketing and tax evasion (whatever constitutes a parallel economy), give rise to inflation. But do economists call this `bad' outright? No. On the other hand, we are told that inflation is not only inevitable, but it is even desirable within limits for rapid economic growth.

Now, can corruption ever be justified? But what are you going to do, if statistics and figures are presented to prove that countries, not totally free from corruption in government and administration, have registered higher economic growth than those rated for clean governance? The economies of Russia, China and Argentina are shown as striking examples in support of this stand. Italy, ranked to be the most corrupt among European countries by Transparency International, is one of the fastest growing.

Likewise, Indonesia became one of the `Tigers' of South-East Asia during the regime of Madam Suharto, who was called `Madam 10%!' Worse, we hear that "Western firms allow corruption to flourish'' and that no country is immune from corruption. Sadly, a notion is engendered that if all the parties to transactions with a government uniformly pass on a fixed percentage cut to the rulers and administrators, it could be taken as an additional tax paid! Viewed thus, can corruption be considered an evil per se?

Coming to the conditions in India, how acceptable have expressions such as `palm greasing' and `something' become! Illegal payments in dark corners and darker nooks have become almost a routine. Findings of Transparency International reveal that each year approximately Rs 27,000 crore — about 50 per cent of our Defence Budget — is paid in bribes across ten service sections. (Incidentally, it is shocking to learn that the health sectors and medical doctors are the worst culprits.)

Is mankind condemned to be debating on "what is ethical and what is unethical'' forever?

K. Gopalan

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