An Imaginary Equity-Growth Trade-off.

I have had to read Prof. Joseph Kieyah's piece in today's Business Daily three times for me to figure out what its core message is. It is not because I wasn’t concentrating on my first attempt; it is because its approach easily endears itself to one tripping on once own intellectual shoe laces.

First, it espouses an argument that the President is not in control of policy. Yes, it does; I you do not believe me, let the Prof. speak for himself:

 "The president’s efforts to roll out his transformative economic agenda are being frustrated by policy makers and civil society, including the Judiciary, who seem clueless on the gravity of the economic problem facing the country"

 In other words there are people called economic policy makers who are not in the executive arm of government. This is new to me.

Second, it argues that there is a problem with the pursuit of equity. To put it differently, it assumes that there is a trade-off between economic growth and distribution. This can only be his illusion - the two are not a zero sum game.

I can only resist the temptation of loudly singing the great Fela Anikulapo-Kuti's master-piece 'Teacher Don't Teach Me Nonsense'; but I cannot resist the temptation of prescribing to the Prof. some reading. Let him try the latest rock buster on the world of economics, Capital in The 21st Century, by Prof. Thomas Piketty.

If he does, he will get an appreciation that inequality can frustrate growth sustenance. In case the book is too heavy (nearly 700 pages), then there is a shorter version in form of a recent compelling IMF Discussion Paper that bears the same message.