TEACHING ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT IN SCHOOLS AND UNIVERSITIES DURING THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS : INTELLECTUAL AND METHODOLOGICAL PROBLEMS AND CHALLENGES

TEACHING ECONOMICS IN SCHOOLS

AND UNIVERSITIES WHEN MACRO ECONOMICS IS IN CRISIS : THE IMPACT OF THE GLOBAL

ECONOMIC CRISIS

DR. RAJU M. MATHEW(A Teacher and Researcher in Economics since 1970,

with multi-disciplinary background)

BRILLIANT STUDENTSAND TEACHERS

This presentation is mainly for the bright and brilliant students and teachers of Economics and Business Management to think differently and to find out immediate solutions to the Global Economic Crisis, affecting the lives of millions of people all over the world and adding the misery and sufferings of men, women, youth and children without much voice.

This is a man-created calamity, for the narrow and primitive ideology, beliefs, policies and strategies based on primitive tribal greed and selfishness, without taking into account the over all interest of the Nature and the Humanity. It is you who alone can find out the solution and act urgently to save the Humanity from further misery and sufferings which are not a pre-condition to enter Heaven or Paradise after death. Life on earth is beautiful and enjoyable. Our pettiness makes life on earth a cursed one.

ECONOMICS IN SCHOOLS AND UNIVERSITIES

Almost all schools and universities offer some courses in Economics or Economics-based Business Management on the basis of some popular text books with age old concepts and analytical techniques. It was on a safer path till the Global Economic Crisis grown to the extent of the Great Depression II.

Now both school teachers and university professors in Economics or Business Management are struggling hard to give a proper explanation for the underlying causes or suggest a solution for the Global Economic Crisis to the well informed and brilliant students, in spite of their PowerPoint presentations. Even the general public treat Economists as an extinct specie without much value or relevance for they suffer from ‘Rip van Winkle Complex’.

Of course, Economics is in Crisis, more specifically in Identity Crisis. The so called peer reviewed research papers in Economics or Business Management have become rubbish without any purpose other than getting a teaching position or getting a better salary or promotion. Even fellow teachers or economists do not

read them, other than for writing some other papers.

FINANCIAL CRISIS AND MONETARY POLICY

A good number of economists and teachers in Economics or Management fail to distinguish between financial crisis and economic crisis. For them they are one and same and therefore believe that with a set of monetary policies and the intervention of the Central Banks, the crisis could be solved.

The truth is it is an economic crisis and it is not a national or macroeconomic issue, but a global economic crisis that cannot be dealt with a set of monetary or even fiscal measures. Had it been a financial crisis, the Central Banks could have solved it years back.

In short, it is an economic crisis and it is global in nature. It can be solved only with Global Economic Measures and Strategies, setting right the inter-sector and the inter-regional economic imbalances with new tools, measures and techniques that are quite unknown to Macroeconomists, including Keynesian or Neo-Keynesians besides the Marxian or Islamic Economists.

STIMULUS PACAKGES

In spite of the Stimulus Packages of America, European Countries , India , China and etc besides the brain storming sessions of the World Economic Forum, deliberations of the UN, IMF. OECD and World Bank and the Nobel Laureates in Economics and advices of the Management Gurus, the teaching and research works of the Harvard or Stanford Business Schools, the world is at the grip of the Great Depression II Lasting at least 2025.

This is an Inquiry for the underlying causes of the Global Economic Crisis and Failure of Economists , Management Experts and Rulers and Political Leadership. It also suggests some alterative global strategies under ‘Mega or Universal Economics’ in stead of the familiar Micro and Macro Economics, including Keynesian Economics or Marxian Economics or Islamic Financing and Banking that are confined to a particular society or tribe for a normal situation..

Optimism is good and Pessimism is bad, but inability to recognize the impending crisis and formulate strategies and implement them at the right time is suicidal. Without using the God-given brain, turning to the God and blaming the fate and expecting something great after death are idiotic.

ECONOMICS GETTING TOOTHLESS

It is sad to note that our economists, management experts and strategists do not have effective methodological and theoretical tools and practical measures to tackle the global economic crisis, affecting the entire humanity, except some oil exporting countries. It has grown to the level of the Great Global Depression. Arts and science of Economics spread across Micro or Macro or Keynesian Economics and the associated Management Science are getting irrelevant and toothless in the midst of the global economic crisis, affecting more seriously the youth all over the world.

PAROCHIAL WITHOUT UNIVERSAL TRUTH Some thing is seriously wrong with the philosophical,

theoretical, methodological and practical aspects of Economics. It has not yet grown to the level of ‘universal truth’ unlike Science, but remains parochial or regional that cannot be put into application universally.

Economists, starting from Adam Smith, Marshall, Marx, Keynes to the living Nobel laureates in Economics, could not talk much about universal truth applicable to all nations or peoples, but only in some countries or regions that too only for a particular situation or context.

Economists, including the World Economic Forum, are grappled with identity crisis without any direction and solutions for the basic problem of the humanity.

SAY’S LAW AND THE GREAT DEPRESSION OF 1929

The Great Depression 1929 shattered the faiths of economists in Say’s Law which states, “supply creates its own demand” and also the analytical techniques of ‘The Principles of Economics’ (1890) of Alfred Marshall and his Microeconomics that dominated over Adam Smith’s ‘The Wealth of Nations’ (1776) and the previous Mercantilism.

Keynesian Economics emerged with ‘The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money’ (1936) of J. M. Keynes whose remedies found to be very effective to tied over the Great Depression of 1929.

However, the Keynesian remedies have been prescribed for the all economic illness in almost all countries even in the modern era. They have become counter productive for their over dosage prescriptions in the form of deficit financing, public borrowing and public expenditure for all economic maladies in almost all nations, including the recent ‘Stimulus Packages’, as is in the case of the over dosage of antibiotics for fever or headache.

THE FALL OF THE USSR AND THE SOCIALST BLOC

With the fall of the USSR and the Socialist Bloc, and the naked adoption of Capitalism in a different name by the Communist China and the subsequent high level corruptions, ‘The Communist Manifesto’ (1848) of Karl Marx (1818-1885) and his subsequent ‘Das Kapital’ in four volumes (1867, 1883, 1885 and 1894) lost their appeal to the young intellectuals.

Karal Marx was not free from the tribal ideology of Abraham and Moses based on ‘the Chosen People’, War and Terror for ‘the Promised Land’ for his Jewish background. Marxism starts with Class War with in a society and end with Dictatorship leading to high level corruptions and total inefficiency and mass exploitation; that is what we learn from history.

THE GREAT DEPRESSION II AND THE POST-KEYNESIAN ECONOMICS

For the present Global Economic Crisis, that has emerged as ‘The Great Depression II’ lasting Till 2025, the world is getting realized the ineffectiveness and impotency of both Microeconomics and Macroeconomics, including Keynesian, Post-Keynesian, Neo-Marxian and Modern Islamic Economics to deal with the Global Economic Problems. For they are too narrow and designed only for a particular society or economy without any solution to the global problems. They crumble when applied globally for their underlying primitive tribal ideologies.

THE DEADLY TRIBAL IDEOLOGIES

The Jews, the Christians and the Muslims believe that they were originated from Adam ; ‘the Tribe of Abraham’ alone was ‘the chosen people of the God’, entitled to loot, rape, conquer and even exterminate the other tribes who were branded as the enemies of the God. The God even promised all support to Abraham or his children in conquering the Prosperous Land of the people of Canaan flown with milk and honey, their city, farm lands, cattle and even beautiful women by the children of Abraham.

The shrewd military strategist, Moses and his General Aaron on their march towards ‘the Promised Land’ brutally and cold bloodedly looted, raped and exterminated several peoples and their kings as narrated in the Old Testament, especially Deuteronomy.

The Western Christian and the Arab Muslims worlds, besides the Jews and their Economics and Political Science, have been built up on these two primitive tribal ideologies – ‘the chosen people’ and ‘the promised land’ that give justifications for war and terror besides branding anybody as the enemy of the God or the People. That is why; they engage themselves in war or terror. This is the basis of the Holy War, Terrorism and Religious Fundamentalism that breed poverty and backwardness and add human misery and sufferings. The only beneficiary is the Defense Industry and Weapon Traders.

THE TWENTY FIRST CENTURY PARADOX

The primitive tribal ideologies of Abraham and Moses, based on ‘The Chosen People’ and ‘the Promised Land’, as glorified in the Bible and the Quran, have a long lasting influence over the predominantly Jewish or the Christian western economists, including the ‘Mercantilists’ ‘the Classical’ ‘the Neo-Classical’, ‘the Marxists’, the Fascists and ‘the Keynesians’ and the Modern. So also is the case with the Islamic Economic or Financial System in the other parts of the world. They are so deep-rooted in these societies that they could not think of another alternatives in spite of the ever growing complex problems. The greatest paradox of the twenty first century is the embedding of the Primitive Tribalism over the High-Tech and Modern World causing unresolved pain, growing strain and ever lasting bleeding.

ECONOMICS OF THE TRIBES

Tribal ideologies and instincts form the basis of Mercantilism, the Classical, the Neo-Classical, the Keynesian, the Marxian, the Muslim and Modern Economics, that can be brought under Micro and Macro Economics. They are basically concerned with the well being of a particular tribe or tribal-based economy, without bothering about the misery or sufferings of other tribes or peoples or nations.

Even Marxism is founded on the war or clashes between two classes in a tribal based society or economy. While the Communists in Russia or China were concerned only about Russia or China the Capitalist or the Socialist economists of America or Britain were or are concerned only about America or Britain.

In short, both Micro and Macro Economics are nothing but mere Tribal Economics without taking into account the Humanity as a whole or the Global Economy, treating everybody as ‘chosen’ or ‘equal’, for the lasting influence of the primitive tribal ideologies of Moses or Abraham.

GLOBALIZATION AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY REVOLUTION

Information Communication Technology Revolution of the late 1980s facilitated Trans-border Data Flow and the emergence of Multi-National Corporations, challenging the fundamental principles of ‘Sovereignty’ and ‘National Boundaries’ of the Political Economy. They have paved the way for ‘Globalization’, the flow of capital, technology and manpower across the borders and the dominance of ‘Service Sector’ over Agriculture and Industry. This has challenged the edifices of both Micro and Macro Economics.

As a defense mechanism, economists turned towards Data and Data Analysis, Projections, Forecasting and Computer Simulations without much knowledge of the working of an economy and without much understanding of the emergence of a ‘Global Economy’ in which both the ‘chosen’ and ‘cursed’ nations or people have an equal role. The fate of the chosen people of the industrialized nations has been determined even by the people of ‘the Cursed Nations’, now known as Emerging Economies, including BRICS besides the poor nations.

CONSUMERISM AND CORPORTISM

Business Management and Business Schools have emerged as applied forms of Economics. They heavily depend upon ‘Military Science’ for launching aggressive Marketing and promoting Consumerism that paved the way for ‘Corporatism’, even challenging Capitalism and Democracy. Corporatism has reduced individuals or nations as mere tools to serve the corporate interest over the humanity.

The primitive tribalism and the tribal ideologies have been skillfully embedded in Corporatism. Corporatism is powerful enough to determine The American President, the Indian or the British Prime Minister and their decisions besides the policies of the leftist or communist political parties. It is powerful enough to spread terrorism or bringing war by financing religious fundamentalism or terrorism or bribing rulers and law makers. Even Islam or Christianity is not free from the shadows of Corporatism. In creating and aggravating the Global Economic Crisis, Corporatism has played a strategic role for its narrow interest and short sightedness.

MICRO AND MACRO ECONOMIC FRAMEWORKS

Within the framework of Micro and Macro Economics, an economy is just a summation of millions of individual national economic production or consumption units and it can be amenable to computerized data collection, computation, manipulations, projections, simulations and forecasting.

They cannot treat the Global Economy as a whole entity rather than mere a summation of the autonomous national entities. Inter-sector and inter-regional imbalances, besides over exploitation of the natural resources are the integral element of Micro and Macro Economics that breed Recessions and Depressions.

THE EXTINCT SPECIES

Economists, including Nobel Laureates and Management Experts have become warriors without any weapon in the rising tide of the Global Economic Crisis, emerged as the Great Depression II lasting till 2025. Now nobody trusts upon the wisdom or remedy of the Micro and Macro Economists, including Keynesian, Modern, Marxian , Islamic and Post-Modern Economists. They have become an extinct specie, just like the Dinosaurs of the primitive age, for the counter productiveness of their teachings, theories, laws, principles, solutions or remedies.

The ignoble fall of Micro and Macro Economics has already been started for the primitive elements and ideologies imbibed or inbuilt within them that make them ineffective. With tribal mindset and ideologies nobody, including Micro or Macro economist, can solve the Global Economic Crisis, emerged as the Great Depression II affecting the entire nations and the humanity as a whole.

GLOBAL ; NOT TRIBAL It is high time for Islam and Christianity to develop a true universal mindset

and ideology quite different from the narrow and dangerous primitive tribal ideologies based on ‘The Chosen People’ and ‘The Promised Land’ and ‘Glorification of War and Terror’ as the Will or Commandments of the God.

It is time for Islam and Christianity and their Economists to recognize the universality of the entire humanity, treating everybody, every tribe or race or religion or nationality , as chosen or equal without glorifying the crimes committed by one or two tribes against the humanity.

It is time for Islam and Christianity to realize that with mere deeds of Charity, Mercy and ‘Shakat’ or Donations, human misery due to global inter-sector and inter-regional imbalances, cannot be eradicated rather than sustaining the inequality between the rich and the poor in a society or the rich and poor nations globally. Global problems can be solved only with a universal and global solutions.

If Islam and Christianity are willing to spare at least 10% of the money they spend for church or mosque building-construction and pilgrimage, they can feed all the hungry newborn children and their mothers all over the world. If they want , they can influence the rulers and policy makers to think and act globally for the benefit of the Humanity. There is an unpardonable sin or dereliction of duties on the part of Islam and Christianity, the two resourceful and highly organized religions of the 21st century. Why Islam keeps 82% and Christianity keeps 29% of their own followers or members under hunger, poverty and ignorance without dignity, globally?

THE RISE OF MEGA OR UNIVERSAL ECONOMICS

The rise of Mega or Universal Economics, treating the entire world as a Mega Economy and giving equal importance to all men or people or nations on earth, is a historical necessity to solve the basic problem of the humanity.

Consequently, every human being can be ensured Food, Dignity and Knowledge and thereby the Global Economy be protected from further Recession and Depression.

Consequently, Inter-Sector and Inter-Regional Balances can be ensured for the optimal utilization of the wealth and talents of the entire humanity for the common benefits of the humanity as a whole.

BASIS OF UNIVERSAL ECONOMICS

Universal Economics aims at ensuring lasting peace and prosperity for the entire humanity, irrespective of any race, tribe, religion or nationality. It incorporates the basic elements of Spirituality and Humanism.

Universal Economics is quite different from the familiar Micro and Macro Economics, including Keynesian, Marxian, Islamic, Fascist or the Western Economics, that deny Humanism , Spirituality and the Universal Well- being of the Mankind.

Universal Economics treats the entire humanity as a whole and the social production processes as the means for the well being of the entire humanity without the ‘Dictatorship’ of any tribe or class or people over others, ensuring inter-sector and inter-regional balances.

MORE RESEARCH AND STUDIES ARE REQUIRED

Further studies and research are required to develop Mega or Universal Economics as a major field of study, recognizing the limitations of the familiar Micro and Macro Economics.

Universal Economics has been designed to equip Economists, Policy Makers and Management Experts with effective tools to tied over the Great Depression II and lead the Humanity for the lasting Peace and Prosperity.

Some of the underlying principles of Universal Economics have been discussed in my earlier writings on the Global Economic Crisis, Education, Information Technology, Knowmatics, Knowledge Industry and Knowledge Banks appeared in the Market Oracle (UK) or presentations at www.slideshare.net/drrajumathew

Schools and Universities must come forward to teach students Mega or Universal Economics and to carry out further research on it. Global cooperation and joint research projects must be launched with international funding. UNESCO, IMF, WTO World Universities Forum, World Economic Forum must come forward to promote teaching and research in Mega or Universal Economics.