The economics of madness

Economics is not often associated with the insane. The discipline is anchored on human rationality. However, economics cannot be completely separated from “societal madness”. For instance, mental ill-health and poverty has a cyclical relationship; poverty increases the risk of mental disorder and having a mental disorder increases the likelihood of descending into poverty. Research has consistently shown that economic crises negatively affect the population’s mental health. A holistic look at the lives of ordinary people whose mental state have been turned upside down by economic policies buttresses this fact.

According to Michael Foucault, the author of Madness and Civilization, madness is not a natural unchanging thing but rather depends on the society in which it exists. How a society treats their mad people is a reflection of their humanity and advancement. In USA, the state of Indiana once legalized the sterilization of lunatics, idiots, criminals and imbeciles to prevent their procreation. England enacted Lunacy Act to confine lunatics, the ancient Romans created fools courts for amusement and Australia once regarded madmen as special beings endowed with supernatural powers. All these ill treatments of mad people changed over time as mankind realized that no one is completely immune to insanity.

Madness is everywhere and can commence at any time. An unexpected event can abruptly change the most reasonable and intelligent man into a roving idiot. Economic hardship for example can severely damage our human sensibilities. This is a painful reminder of how close man is to the edge of reason.

It is possible to harness the positives of the mentally challenged for the good of the society. Some researchers even claim that creativity can be linked to a certain degree of madness. In our own society, despite their challenges, the mentally challenged have continued to contribute to our national GDP in their own unique ways over the years, though unreported. This might sound bizarre, illogical, inhuman or unethical but it is certainly factual. Before you think that the author is insane, pause a little and ponder over the following everyday scenes in our cities and villages.

Scenario one: During work rush hours, do we not see drug addicts/street urchins and quasi mad men controlling traffic? If we do, it is unfair not to acknowledge their contribution to economic growth. If time is money then, anything that helps to reduce travel time surely contributes to national economic growth.

Scenario two: In our market places, we have mad men music orchestra that produce sweet melodies that are appreciated well enough for passers-by to part with their hard earned money in recognition of their special talents. Music is about organizing chaos when so many people with so many instruments come together to create something harmonious. The synchronization of these mad men’s make shift musical instruments confirms that indeed order can come out of chaos. The elite can pay thousands to be entertained but mad men are providing entertainment services free of charge to the common men who cannot afford the fees charged by professional entertainers. If happy people make a prosperous nation then these special people contribute to national prosperity.

Scenario three: In our villages, the quasi mad people (drunkards and charlatans) hiding under the cover of the spirit of irresponsibility often reveal dreaded truths that sane men could not dare to make public. Thus, the speech of a ‘mad man’ which ought to be worthless could indeed be of immense economic benefits since in all human interactions (economic transactions inclusive) availability of authentic information can be the key determinant to success.

Scenario four: if there is no madness to mimic, the comedians who now make good money mimicking drunkards and their likes will not be in existence today. Jesters as professionals have withstood civilization over the ages. Till today, the speech of a madman is money and playing the fool is now a multi-billion naira profession.

It might interest the policy makers to know that psychiatric service is one of the few professions that defy economic cycles. As economic woes worsen, drift to madness increases. In the same token, as economic prosperity advances, drift to binge drinking and other wild lifestyles of drugs and ecstasy which ultimately leads to addictions become the order of the day. In both cases, the psychiatric profession experiences a boom.

While this set of really mad people highlighted above truly deserves our help, there is another set of mad people who genuinely deserve our condemnation. Tragically, this special set of people will never believe that they are indeed mentally degraded but their actions and inactions manifest madness of a higher order.

Consider the following set of “mad men” – pastors who humiliate, molest and dupe their congregations; politicians who brazenly steal from the national treasury(some hide money in cemeteries and sewages, others burn stolen money in cemeteries for spiritual protection); our men in uniform who bully and sometimes kill without provocation innocent citizens they are supposed to protect; our lecturers who trade marks for sex and money thereby flooding the labour market with unemployable graduates; drivers who drive against the traffic, who endanger their lives and lives of others for no just reason; unclad ladies who walk about half naked distracting the few productive people.The madness of greed in our society today is one of our greatest banes as a nation.  The list is endless.

Unfortunately, this group of “special people” constitute security risk to our national economic development. They inflict their greatest damage on the psyche and values of the populous. With their actions and apparent success they foster on the nation the notion that “hard work does not pay”. Consequently, the citizens and other economic agents often make choices that are not in the overall interest of the economy, after all “if you can beat them, you join them”.

The prevalence of corrupt leaders (a special set of mad men stealing what they don’t need) in our society has ensured that even the good ones with the very best of intentions will be treated with skepticism. The resultant impact is that the positives of expectation effect are lost. It is therefore more difficult for policies and programmes that worked well in other climes to function effectively in our own environment.

The high rate of policy failureand the policy inconsistencies in our unending search for economic breakthrough is the price we pay for having leaders that enjoy zero confidence of the citizens.

A nation is as good as its workforce. Economic development will be difficult as long as our educational institutions continue to produce graduates that cannot effectively function in their chosen profession. Anybody who contributes in producing these “half-baked graduates” that are fast becoming “un-baked graduates” deserves a bed space in a psychiatric hospital!

Drastic decline of virtues often precedes the destruction of common good and ultimately national failure. As long as these set of people who are really mad but are not yet roaming the streets continue to grow in number, economic policies alone without national re-orientation and severe punishment for these deviants might not be able to lift us out of this present economic quagmire. By changing people’s behaviour, it is possible to transform a poor nation to a prosperous country.

Policy makers must therefore consider the psychological implications of their economic decisions and incorporate them in devising economic strategies. Citizens’ sound mental capacity is a pre-requisite for any economy to thrive with high productivity.

 

Ejike Nwolisa