By Zehra Naqvi: What’s the similarity between a functioning economy and a nuclear reactor? You might well wonder. But Rajiv Bahl’s entire book is based on this premise, and a pretty intriguing premise it is. Well connected and deeply thought out, it converts the economy into an ‘Idea Reactor’ with all the components neatly laid out in parallels to its nuclear counterpart. Bahl juxtaposes observation and common sense with knowledge from various fields of life, including mathematics, physics, philosophy, history and so on, to show how ideas reach ‘critical’ stage and how they are released with the help of ‘coolants’ or inhibited by ‘control rods’. Very artfully, through the universality of concepts such as pi or the commonality between patterns of lighning bolts, delta systems and organisational charts of bureaucracies (!) he tries to point out the uncanny patterns in the universe — how two disconnected entities may exhibit the same features when looked at from a certain angle. For Bahl’s idea reactor, the fissile material is the minds of people, ‘enriched’ through education and exposure to different experiences, packed close together through interaction and communication. The ciritcal stage is reached when minds produce ideas that bring about crucial changes and progress. The coolant is an extremely important component that channels the energy from a reactor to usable purposes, and in Bahl’s model the economic coolant is money. Most of the catastrophic reactor failures in history — including the most recent Fukushima tragedy — owed themselves to a lack of coolant to siphon off the heat energy before it turns explosive. And that’s how Bahl draws an analogy based on the power of money to bring ideas into the market and make them workable, and the catastrophic effects of the corrosion of its purchasing power. The role of inhibitors is played by all things social, physical and cultural that inhibit the growth of ideas; what is termed as ‘gravity’ — weighing you down. It might be something as micro as a discouraging family or community or adverse life circumstances, or as macro as red tapism, excessive taxation and inefficient law and order system. But this is an all too simplistic a summarisation of a model developed in great detail. From education to taxation, to the position of women in society being critical to idea emission and release, from radio spectrum allocation to protectionism and the dual standards of international trade, Bahl analyses his theory from various angles. A lot of it might appear over simplified, with the book presenting itself an all-purpose economic guide. Still, though idealistic in nature, it deserves careful thought and attempt at application. A small but relevant case in point is his observation about education. Rather than teaching the timeline of kingdoms and empires through kings and wars, what children should be taught are the major achievements of human civilisation and especially how they were brought about. He also makes a case for making education up to the high school level as ‘primary’ education, funded wholly by society. But such suggestions appear too utopian, demanding sweeping changes in society (at least in ours). Theoretically Bahl attempts to strike an ideal between capitalism and socialism, free trade and protectionism, but in practice such an equilibirum is far too distant, if possible at all. Bahl’s book is the culmination of a decade’s thought process. His model, though complex, is presented in a clear, comprehensible manner. From an economist’s perspective, or just about anyone interested in economics, this is an all-encompassing, minutely detailed, bird’s eye view of the churning Idea Reactor. It’s a laudable exercise deserving of attention, but its usefulness in policy making and economic course correction needs to be put to the test. Source: mydigitalfc.com
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