|
It is only lately that I started to
realize the operations of an economic system. For
much of my life, I wondered about what defines the
world as it appears. As an avid movie watcher, to
the dismay of my parents, my mind was filled with
the adventures of a globalized world even before
developing the capacity to imagine its boundaries.
Alike any other kid, my entry into
the economy was brought through borrowed purchasing
power. Pennies that my uncles and parents used to
give me often lend me momentary capacity as an
economic player to define my transient choice. It
had never been done with the apprehension that I was
taking part in the utmost important activity of the
world; trade.
I used to enjoy my purchasing
capacity so much that I always desired extending it
as much as possible by saving the little money that
I rarely obtain, albeit for short span of time.
Purchasing times could never be stretched by more
than an hour or two for my little heart opts to get
the red and white candy at Ali Shop, the memorable
small retail shop in our neighborhood named after
its charming owner Ali Abdulla.
Purchasing power naturally grows
with time, unless the vagaries of poverty and
unemployment affect it. Nothing that I lived in
Addis Abeba, no wonder that its rate of growth could
unfortunately be lower than other parts of the
world. Local reality dictates that one could even
die without seeing herself joining the formal sector
of the economy. In light of this, I surely was
privileged.
My transient capacity slowly
transformed into regularity with weekly allowances
as I inched finishing primary school. That suddenly
brought me to the uneasiness of choice and the
dutifulness of spending. Of all the happiest moments
of my childhood, I would always remember the little
debate that I used to have with my equals on which
commodity is more important to own within the limits
of marginal purchasing power. Surely, holidays were
events of a quick rise in purchasing power and
thoughtless buying.
In all these processes, however, the
hands of the state were so indiscernible that
retailers such as Ali were taken as the commodity
gods. It is as if they are the unregulated,
omnipotent providers with unlimited capacity to
overburden buyers such as me and my equals with
undue price. Had it not been for their greed, we
even used to argue, they could have given us more of
a commodity for a unit price. Curtsey to their
greed, scarcity appears to be the centrifugal force
of life that defines its shape, form and style.
It is only lately that the hands of
the invisible player, the state, became apparent. My
first account of the role of the state came from
household electricity and water supply bills. There
were some days that my mother, who is a loving woman
of humor and humbleness in normal times, gets mad
about the money she has paid for the services. She
sometimes goes to restrict the use of some
appliances in the house to reduce her bill, though
her order lasts for only few days and often
trespassed by herself.
For me, the whole scenario looks
like a film titled Ironman, wherein the big beast
takes whatever people have without any justifiable
contribution. Even with my thoughtless mind, I used
to feel sympathetic for my mother. I saw no good in
the power that spoils the days of my hero every
other month.
As I grow up, I come to know that at
receiving end lays a crucial player in a typical
economic system. Not that it only receives but it
provides. It was the centripetal force with the
power to build roads, electricity lines, water pipes
and even fence our small football field.
Playful as it may seem, the whole
process of realization introduced me with the
fundamentals of trade. It had never been only about
the likes of Ali, as it had not been only about the
nameless beast. Instead, it was about the
interaction between the two at the helm of which
lays me, my mom, my equals and their parents with
different public sector jobs as human agents.
Unfortunately, the role of market
and state remain the most debatable subject even
after two decades. Market fundamentalists would like
to see unfettered markets defining the shape of life
in the world. Apologetic statists advocate for
aggressive state intervention in the economy. It
seems that the post-crisis world favors the latter
with ordinary people such as my mom, who eventually
is getting older, angry about the unrestrained greed
of business people.
Brought up in a neighborhood with
sharp price variations between shops, I remain an
advocate of markets. To the least, I know that
markets provide choices. They let people define
their own way of spending and plan accordingly.
It might be an inopportune time in
history to stand by the markets but I see no option
than that. Limiting the power of the state to the
provisions of basic social services and common goods
is the best option for sustaining social welfare.
Optimizing growth and maintaining
the benefits call for small and efficient state in
Ethiopia. At least, that is what I know from my
childhood. |
