Consider us to be idiots

I have been reading Sauvik Chakraverti‘s writings since 2002 but more from 2005. His writings are simple like a man’s mind without fear and fret.

Consider the one which he wrote in 1999, it was that time I took admission in Economics in undergraduate.

The kind of teacher were taught (teaching) was not marvelous but symptomatic horrible.

It will be interesting to read still and I produce the whole article below:

Amartya Sen and journalism

Gunnar Myrdal, who shared the 1974 Economics Nobel prize with Friedrich Hayek was quite like Amartya Sen. He believed that the poor of the developed world were not capable of rationally responding to market signals and that planning by an intellectual-moral elite was the answer. Sen, similarly, believes our illiterates need primary education’ — from the state at public expense. Till then we are unfit for the globalising world.

There is, however, a much larger question. What is knowledge. and how is it be spread? Hayek’s theory of knowledge says that knowledge can be codifiable and well as uncodifiable You cannot learn to ride a cycle, climb a coconut tree, swim a river, or even cook a meal by reading a book. The market brings to service all the diverse bits of knowledge we all possess. I do not know how to make cheese, but the market allows me to access the knowledge of someone else. Planners cannot collect all the knowledge they need. They thus exercise power without knowledge.

Today, we must examine whether Hayek is the philosopher India needs — or whether the Myrdal-Sen school of thought should triumph. Journalists can help. It is simple to prove to journalists — who are all knowledge workers’ -- that Hayek should be their gum. Knowledge is not transmitted when the state closes our borders, plans the economy, and attempts to educate people. Knowledge is best transmitted through free trade and free immigration.

The world thus knows of Chinese food. Melbourne boasts the highest population of Greeks outside Athens — so Australians now know of Greek food and regularly drink ouzo. If a large bunch of Mexicans moved into Dehra Doon, the townspeople would get to know of tequila and tacos. But what has all this got .o do with journalism? Well, there s something called food and drink journalism. How can we have wine journalism? Only through free trade and free immigration. Or let us take another example: automotive journalism. With the arrival of the new cars, some journalists have made a name for themselves reviewing cars. How can they, their magazines and the reading public get more knowledge of automobiles? Free trade is the only answer. And mind it, in both cases, the knowledge that comes in percolates to the lowest level.

Indian mechanics are very good. My Bullet 500 is serviced by a young boy who probably doesn’t know how to read and write very well. With free trade, his knowledge would increase. If there had been free trade from 1947, multipoint fuel injection would be old hat to unlettered Indian mechanics. Similarly, restaurant cooks would know of various cuisines if there were free migration. The idea that knowledge is something that can be transmitted by state action is completely false. Journalists must realise that, behind the M dal-Sen school of socialist thought, there lurks a nasty contempt for human faculties. They both consider us to be idiots. And their God is the State. It is a fundamental truth of Economics that all human beings are naturally gifted with the ability to trade. If one watches children at play, one can see them exchanging toys and food gainfully amongst each other: give me some chips and have a sip of my coke Trade has always been the foundation of prosperity. If people are free to trade (for which freely tradable money is essential) they will create prosperity. The state has only to supply the essential public goods: urban and rural roads (highways can be private) and law and order (which includes traffic regulation).

With free trade and free migration a knowledge explosion will occur. Magazines, books and journals would burgeon. Journalism would prosper. Amartya Sen is Gunnar Myrdal in thin disguise. The statism and the cynical contempt for human faculties which Sen and Myrdal have theorised must be pulverised.