The critical creative thinkers on government and economics at the University of the West Indies at Mona should urgently convene a national conversation, cum analysis, on the “big ideas” for the redemption of our human resource and the economic policy options facing our political economy going forward in the 21st century.

This appeal is in no way dismissive of the debates between the JLP and the PNP which begin tonight. They will satisfy partisan choices in the coming general election. But a non-partisan, candid, and robust intellectual analysis of the economic options facing the country, against the background of the severity of the economic crisis, offers the best option in the present climate for overcoming the epistemological crisis of the mass of the population.

For while most Jamaicans know that we are in for some excruciatingly tough times ahead – whichever party forms the next government – they are aware that this is not only because our political leaders are not up to the job of giving us the hard facts about the economy. Wisely, they know also that the adjustments required of our current national economic models – profligacy vs frugality – are too great to be undertaken voluntarily. Yet, if we hope for a decent prospect of survival as a society, we will fundamentally have to rethink ways of living in a country in which we are locked. Only a national conversation of the “big ideas” on the economy can accomplish this, to ensure durable recovery and the collective political will to implement it.

There are a number of questions demanding intelligent answers, beginning with how best to stimulate employment in the short term. Critics have argued that the PNP’s concept of an emergency employment programme is at odds with the principle of fiscal responsibility. But can we accept this criticism at face value without an in-depth analysis of the possibilities? The same consideration goes for the government’s plan to effect public sector retrenchment. Is there a more “liveable” alternative to the unemployment of public sector workers? Indeed, will such retrenchment bring the country any closer to meeting its medium-term growth targets? We need to see the numbers involved in this exercise as a prelude to a discussion of the possibilities.

The country continues to rage against the powers of darkness where the unacceptable implementation (third quarter of 2014) for the private LNG project is concerned. But what are the possibilities for fast-tracking our energy solution? We are still to have a frank discussion of the impact of energy rates remaining as they are. Similarly, we need a broad-based discussion between the different sectors and interest groups on the likely trade-offs that must occur to ensure the least painful way for making tax reform revenue positive. For how can the electorate be expected to buy into a process for which it does not have a feel for what is involved?

And who would deny that our financial services sector is in need of a shot in the arm? But what kind of policies could be explored to achieving this? Will a future government be in favour of developing a secondary market for GOJ domestic 70s, valued at $700 billion? If so, which is the best way to go about this – trading on the JSE or via the BOJ? Being the biggest employers of Jamaican tertiary graduates, this sector cannot be ignored.

Where unused state lands are concerned, Jamaicans would be interested in learning what creative, integrated solutions there are for bringing unemployed citizens and those lands together. Are there credible plans to expand the scope of the Land Administration/Management Project to impact unemployment in the short to medium term? As a corollary to this, what is the “big idea” to ramp up the output of SMEs? Is government doing its utmost to access sufficient global climate funds to impact employment in the short run?

There is no way out for Jamaica than to rethink its version of capitalism – with or without the IMF. But the management of this project cannot reside with our political leaders alone. They are lost in a bubble of illusion and obfuscation, having failed to recognise that economics is in crisis in Jamaica, as in much of the world.

The JLP sees our market economy as a self-regulating mechanism, where the “invisible hand” smoothly channels the self-interested actions of individuals towards a social optimum in the absence of monetary disturbances. Conversely, the PNP accepts the social value of our market system, but denies that in the presence of irreducible uncertainty, it is optimally self-regulating. It sees government intervention is necessary to ensuring full use of potential resources – a la JEEP.

Both approaches have elements of truth, and our recovery may well involve them. A national conversation on our economic options could tell us.

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