RETHINKING THE PURPOSE OF ECONOMIC POLICY

The purpose of economic growth must be to improve the ease of earning and living for all

- ARUN MAIRA

The year 2024 has revealed starkly the insufficiency of 20th-century economics to solve problems of runaway climate change, inequitable growth, and the rise of authoritarian governments.

Economics became the imperial science for driving public policy in the 20th century. Social and political turmoil in the West between the two World Wars was fueled by economic injustice. Political movements rose to correct the imbalances—Nazism in Germany, fascism in Italy, communism in Russia. After the Second World War, the Western world became divided between the communist Soviet Union and capitalist US with socialist Europe in the middle. Keynesian economics provided the foundations for socialist policies and international trade and development institutions. By century's end, the Washington ideology of free trade and private enterprises prevailed over socialism, and communism was buried.

Economic science in its present state cannot provide solutions for problems it has unwittingly caused. Benefits of growth are not flowing down quickly enough to nourish society equitably. Movements from the Left and the Right are rising to challenge neo-liberal ideology. Liberals are alarmed by the rise of authoritarian governments and demands for local jobs and self-reliance even in the US. New models of economic growth are required, which do not exploit nature, and improve the distribution of well-being and equitable opportunities for all citizens, not just increase GDP.