REDEFINING ECONOMICS AND ECONOMIC POLICIES FOR THE INTELLIGENT

STUDENTS, TEACHERS AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC AMDIST

THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS

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

with multi-disciplinary background)

WHY TO REDEFINE ECONOMICS AND FORMULATE ALTERANTIVE POLICIES AND STRATYEGIES ?

• The Financial Meltdown started in 2008, grown as Recession in 2009 and later turned as The Great Depression II was a shock for me as an Economist.

• In spite of the great works in Economics by the best brains, the relentless work and preaching over 80% of the Humanity is in poverty and misery; 82% of the world Muslims and 39% of the world Christians are illiterate and poverty ridden. I have witnessed the fall of Communism, the Arab Spring and the rise of Corporatism and the Coming of the Great Depression II and the adding misery of the poor and sufferings of the Youth and Women.

• The Global Economic Crisis makes the intelligent students, teachers, management experts, the rulers and politicians and even general public to question the value and worth of Economics and Macroeconomic Policies. This has made me to redefine Economics, using my multi-disciplinary background and holistic approach towards the problem of the Humanity.

• Though I dissent with so many established practices, I am not against any religion or people and my intension is to make people aware of the gravity and complexity of the problem. I am confident that the new generation of intelligent students, teachers and professionals will find out a lasting solution for the basic problems of the Humanity and I hope that my writings will be useful for them. My works and background in Economics and interactions with so many people help me redefine Economics or propose Mega or Universal Economics.

LEARNING ECONOMICS –MY TIME AND BACKGROUNDS

• I started to study Economics since 1965 with Paul A Samuelson’s ‘Economics’ as the base. Then I went through the works of J. M. Keynes, Kenneth Ewart Boulding, Kenneth Arrow, Mrs. Robinson, F.A. Hayek, Joseph Schumpeter, Karal Marx, Milton Friedman and so many other great and small economists, besides several course materials.

• During my education,(1965-70) at S. B. College, Changancherry I got opportunity to know The Bible, the Koran the Vedas, and Upanishads, the Yoga, Indian Mythology, Fascism, Communism and also the teaching of the Buddha.

• While I was teaching Economics at S.D. College, Kanjirappally and subsequent higher studies both at Kerala University, Trivandrum and Madras University, Chennai, I could make use of some of the best resources available in India in diverse fields of Knowledge, besides interacting with some of the best brains.

MY TEACHING AND RESEARCH IN ECONOMICS

• In 1970, I started my career as a teacher in Economics. In 1978, I got interested in Economics of Knowledge. My book on Economics of Library Resources got published from England and the USA in 1981 by the MCB University Press, (now Emerald).

• In 1982, I undertook a major research project at Calicut University on Knowledge Utilization of various universities in India. All those works lead to my nomination to the 12 member FID Committee on Research on Theoretical basis of Information Science, with Prof. A. I. Mikhalove of the USSR Academy of Sciences, the father of Informatics, as the Chairman. The Committee had consultative status with UNESCO. Prof. Mikhalove had suggested me to develop some theories in Informatics using my works on knowledge consumption and production.

• In 1984 I formulated two theories of knowledge consumption-production that got published in the ‘Theoretical Problems of Informatics’ under his editorship. The work appeared in several languages and I got opportunities to associate with some of the best brains in Informatics, Information Technology, International Information Economy, Service Sector and Globalization that made me to publish papers on these areas.

• My research on Knowledge, Education and Information Technology lead me to propound Knowmatics in 2005 and to conduct further studies on Knowledge Industries and Knowledge Bank.

ECONOMICS IN IDENTITY CRISIS • Thanks to Information Technology, hundreds of nations, thousands of races and

tribes and millions of societies are brought under a single network, facilitating the interdependence between peoples, irrespective of any religion, nationality or culture; nobody can survive without others.

• As a result, the familiar tribal or national economies have become the integral part of the Global Economy, a new phenomenon quite unfamiliar to our Micro- or Macro-economists, including Keynesian, Marxist, Islamist and Management Experts. To them Economics or Management is only for protecting the ‘tribal or racial or religious or national interest’ or ‘selfish interest’ and nothing to do with the problem of the humanity.

• The present global economic crisis shattered the faiths of Economists and Management Experts in their own ability to solve the crisis. Not only the Governments but also the common people question the worth of Economics and Management Science.

• As a discipline, Economics is in an identity crisis. Even the Nobel Laureates in Economics have become the laughing stacks. The students, teachers or faulty members and researchers in Economics or Management Schools all over the world too are in crisis or confusion.

THIS IS THE GREAT DEPRESSION II• 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.

• Though many prefer to call it ‘Global Financial Crisis’, it cannot be solved with mere financial remedies for it is economic and global in dimension rather than financial and regional.

• This is an Inquiry in to the underlying causes of the Global Economic Crisis and the failures of Economists , Management Experts and Rulers and Political Leadership. It also suggests in Redefining Economics and proposing alterative Global Strategies under ‘Mega or Universal Economics’ in stead of the familiar Micro and Macro Economics, including Keynesian Economics, Marxian Economics or Islamic Economics or Finance.

ECONOMICS GETTING TOOTHLESS

• It is sad to note that our great 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.

• The crisis 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.

OUTDATED PHILOSOPHY, METHDOLOGY AND THEORIES

• 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 Abraham of the conquering of the Prosperous Land of the people of Canaan flown with milk and honey, their city, farm lands, cattle and even beautiful women by the sons 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. This is the basis of the Holy War, Terrorism and Religious Fundamentalism.

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, though they too have become its victims.

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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.

• Even though some regional economic entities, including European Union, have been set up under Macroeconomics, they cannot survive long. Autonomous Regional Economic Entities cannot be fitted within the framework of the Global Economy that demands a different Economics.

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 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.

THE RISE OF MEGA OR UNIVERSAL ECONOMICS

• It is the need of the hour to develop 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, ensuring Food, Dignity and Knowledge for All; insulting the Global Economy from Recession and Depression and ensuring Inter-Sector and Inter-Regional Balances. It ensures the optimal utilization of the wealth and talents for the benefit 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

AN APPEAL TO THE YOUNG ECONOMISTS• New problems cannot be solved with old remedies. The present Global

Economic Crisis is basically a New Problem affecting severely the Young Generation, including the newly enlightened women.

• With selfish interests and primitive instincts as glorified and projected by Ideologies, Religions, Nations, Races or Tribes, nobody can address the Global Problems. It is time on the part of the Youth and Women to think universally and bring out urgent Global Solutions.

• The Young Economists, including students and teachers, Management Experts and above all Scientists and Technologists must join together to save the Humanity from further crisis, misery and sufferings. The life on the Earth must also be made as beautiful as the life in the Heaven or Paradise after death; other wise, Heaven or Paradise is a Big Lie.

• Humanism and Spirituality are Divine and the basis of all Religions; without them, the Hell is the only alternative. Without Humanism and Spirituality, any religion turns in to Fascism to reign over by the Devil or Satan; that is the Greatest Human Tragedy.