Freedom and Growth

The long-running downturn in the Western world and the resilient Asian economies, many of which are nominally democratic have inadvertently churned out the idea of political freedom or economic growth. This is most definitely a very foreign concept in the minds of many people in the West. Indeed, for decades and even centuries, the West has showed us that the two can co-exist and in fact, quite possibly complement each other. There is no doubt that we should not play down Asia’s achievement but is it too soon or is it even right to make political freedom and economic growth mutually exclusive?

At the heart of this idea is the belief that something productive would have been achieved as opposed to time wasted in endless negotiations among politicians in a democracy. Of course, here I am assuming a situation where no single party hold a majority in a parliament and a consensus among the relevant players need to be reached. A very recent example is perhaps the current impasse in US about raising the debt ceiling. Going by the argument and the potential impact that a default may have on the global economy as a whole, would the US have been better off if it abandons democracy altogether?

I think we need to take a step back and ask ourselves what democracy is all about. No doubt economic growth is important but in our quest for this growth, we seem to have been blinded and forgotten what democracy is all about to the extent that we made the two mutually exclusive. It is about collective decision-making. It is about taking into consideration the views of different people, different segments of the society. Surely, it does not imply that it impedes economic growth at any point in time. In fact, inclusivity could have resulted in a more balanced growth. Afterall, who are we to judge that our decisions are the best for the nation? Or superior over the others?

Even if at the end of the day, political freedom and economic growth are indeed mutually exclusive, in reaching a consensus, isn’t it worthwhile to sacrifice a bit of economic growth?