Business

Saturday November 14, 2009

Your 10 questions


Datuk Dr Zainal Aznam Yusof, NEAC member answers ...

How does it feel like to be “famous” and much-sought-after for comments by the media for every conceivable economic issue? – Bakaria Dun, KL

People have an inflated view that, like a sage on a hill, you have an answer to everything. I like to simplify complicated issues, unravel the arcane and take the air out of the mumbo jumbo.

I read and re-read Stanford’s Emeritus Philosophy Professor Harry Frankfurt’s book On Bullshit where he discusses the theory of bullshit; it’s like a whip over my head and keeps me narrowly grounded.

I try always to be responsible when I speak out my views to reduce the supply of bullshit. I’m reminded of the slave on the chariot beside a triumphant Julius Ceasar entering Rome, whispering to Ceasar that all the glory is fleeting.

How can one ever find anything interesting about economics? It is one subject that I find most boring in class. – Bored June, PJ

Economics can be freaky and cool. I find it far from boring, as the economic approach can show that the powers and comparative advantage of real estate agents, stockbrokers and the Ku Klux Klan are based on hoarding information.

Data collected showed drug dealers in the United States stayed at home with their mothers. And by sifting through bank data using algorithms, it is possible to identify would-be Muslim suicide bombers because they don’t buy life insurance.

And the wages of US prostitutes have fallen because of falling demand and competition; any woman who has sex with a man for free exerts competitive pressure on prostitution.

I don’t believe we can achieve Vision 2020, considering all that has happened and are happening around us. What’s your take? – Sceptical Koh, PJ

Vision 2020 is supposed to take us up to a developed country status. It is unlikely, based on the past GDP (gross domestic product) growth record, growing at less than 5% per annum, that we can achieve the level of income of a developed country by 2020; the Asian financial crisis and the ongoing financial crisis has dented our growth and we have lost some years.

We need to raise our growth rates to more than 7% per annum for the period 2011-2020 if we are to come close to the targets of Vision 2020.

What’s taking you and your team (NEAC) so long to come up with the new economic model for the country? Is it a very difficult thing to do? Please enlighten us. – Richard Dass, JB

The 10-member National Economic Advisory Council (NEAC) has had two meetings so far, and we have been grappling with the New Economic Model (NEM).

The NEAC has to assess the factors that have gotten us into the so-called “middle-income trap” and what would it take to move us to the High Income Economy group by 2020 – the macro-economic framework, the global, regional and national outlook, the strategies and policies and the institutions that are required to transform the economy.

More work is needed to expand and finalise the NEM. More meetings have been scheduled.

Economically, our neighbours are fast catching up, and we seem to be falling behind. Can we stop this? – Zubir Khan, KL

Malaysia has been losing its comparative advantage to emerging economies. China has been a major competitive force and so is India. We have to grow faster than our neighbours, and to do that, we must improve on our competitiveness, raise productivity, and seek new sources of growth.

We will continue to be a trading nation and should maintain our openness. Domestic sources of growth must be exploited. A crucial need is to have a massive push to increase the quantity and quality of our human capital. Major educational reforms are a necessity. We must do it today.

I want to be an economist like you. What skills do I need to be a good one and how can I sharpen them? – Al Raj, Klang

Reading widely and writing economic articles will enhance your skills. Read books and magazines that attract your interest and then extend beyond that to include politics, philosophy and sociology. Write articles on topics that interest you and get them published.

Attend conferences and seminars to widen your interest and knowledge and to network with other economists. If you can, do a postgraduate degree in economics to enhance your analytical skills and to keep up with new knowledge.

What sort of an economist are you (classical, neo-classical, Keynesian, or others)? Which economist influences you the most, and why? – Ashraf Hassan, Penang

Typecasting is always tricky. I would say I’m rather eclectic, but more Keynesian or neo-Keynesian, a “school” after the British economist John Maynard Keynes.

Nobel Laureatte economist Amartya K. Sen gets my nod as influencing some of my thinking. Sen’s works in social choice theories, development economics, equality, living standards, famines and economic philosophy, especially recently, on justice, deserve to be read widely.

Do you have an alter ego? And who would that be? – Hero Nazri, Klang

If forced on the rack to confess, my alter ego would be a hard choice between Woody Allen and Juliette Binoche. Woody for his humourous films and writings, making neurosis a necessity and passé, and for defining modern man as those born after Nietzsche’s edict that “God Is Dead” but before the recording of the Beatles “ I Wanna Hold Your Hand”.

Juliette for her elegance, luminousity, and because I would like to speak French, and ordering latte at a Paris café would be easier if I look like Juliette. Besides, Juliette looks a little like my wife and they would get along.

Is being an economist boring? What do you like most about your job? Could you state some of the glorious moments you have had in your career and why was that? – Suzy Hanz, Taiping

As I said, economics can be freaky, cool and fun. Acquiring knowledge, seeing their interconnectedness and playing around with new questions can be invigorating.

I would say the career high points would include working in the EPU (Economic Planning Unit) on the NEP (New Economic Policy) in the late 1960s and 1970s, working with NEAC during the financial crisis, becoming a visiting scholar at Harvard Institute of International Development for an academic year, working with the World Bank over a two-year period and as a research fellow at Centre for Research on Inequality, Security and Ethnicity, Oxford University.

How do you keep yourself sane from all the daily pressure in life? If you were to ever retire, how would you be spending most of your time? – M. Naza, Ipoh

I trekked in the Himalayas to the Annapurna Base Camp, attempted two Langkawi Ironman (swim, bike and run), completed Olympic length triathlons, do duathlons and have re-started sailing.

I write non-economic articles, was the film critic for The Edge, and am trying fiction writing. I play the drums and am now playing with a band.

I have a Youtube channel – Yowassupproduction - on satirical and comedy skits and the whole family is involved in the production.

When I’m fully retired, I would do all these with even greater interest.

  • E-mail this story
  • Print this story