An untidy affair

Pursuant to upbringing, have always believed, and maintained, that a neat and clean working environment is a precondition for getting work done efficiently; any kind of work. This particular rule of making sure that everything is in its right place has probably escalated to OCD levels where disorderly picture frames in other people's offices is highly disconcerting, and distracting enough to lose focus.
And, suddenly comes along Tim Harford's latest book "Messy"; well, latest in the sense that got around to reading it just now. Those of you afflicted with the age old, but now disappearing, habit of reading may recall his claim to fame venture, "The Undercover Economist". To say that reading the book "Messy" turned my views on a neat and clean work discipline topsy-turvy, is an understatement. Albeit, on a separate note, the book did reinforce my conviction that sticking to age old economic dogmas which never gave the desired results for Pakistan's economy is perhaps a very bad strategy.
By the way, continuing with the break from the "Bits" serial, simply because it is a wait and see time. Rumour has it that the IMF team is in town and have initially suggested the same old prescription, depreciate the rupee and increase the interest rates. Come on guys, one medicine for every ill of every country! We already know the next steps, increase prices of the poor man's necessities and stop government spending so that they, the poor, are denied employment as well. And if that is not enough, as a preparation for privatisation, fire employees via the golden handshake since it is their fault that State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) are suffering huge losses. Never figured out what is golden about a golden handshake!
Come on guys be adventurous, go for tariff hikes and try practicing protectionism for once; if Trump can do it, if the Middle East kingdoms can do it, if China can do it, why can't we?
Getting back to Messy, the arguments in the book seemingly carry weight. Anything out of the routine perhaps is a catalyst for creativity; I suppose you only think out of the box, when the box makes no sense, contrarily why bother. Nineteen economists in a room will likely think the same way and get stuck at the same place and will have the same solution; add a banker and financial analyst, or better an engineer and the likelihood of diverse thought increases greatly. To think about it, for this very reason, I have always held the office of the court jester in high esteem, while the rest of the court is busy praising and agreeing with the king, someone has to tell him that he is naked.
A beautiful large table in a conference room is a bad idea!? While I was taken aback with the thought of throwing away a perfectly nice table, the author did have a point; junior officials sitting at the end of the table (visualize a cabinet meeting) can hardly get a word in and prefer not to bother the bosses, even when they might have the right answer. As they say, even a stopped clock is right twice a day.
From experience, undeniably impromptu speech is far more effective than delivering something which was conceived by a speech writer, however good he or she might be, behind a desktop completely unaware of the situation on ground. But, let's not confuse this with preparation; if you don't know the subject and don't have the facts, it's best you keep your mouth shut which unfortunately is seemingly impossible for the growing lot of "Know it all" in Pakistan.
On a serious note, the decision-makers in public sector who devise controls to check compliance with rules and procedures need to read the chapter on incentives. Despite all the inspection teams and technology-based controls, we still hear about ghost schools and missing teachers. Then again, perhaps even the private sector can learn that in the real world controls can by and large be gamed. "A simple question from an unexpected direction can prove far more searching".
More pertinently, on the economic front, we seem to be the exception to the view in the book, that it is unusual for a country to make a lot of different kinds of simple products yet no sophisticated products. Beyond a hand full of industries like cement, sugar, textile, fertilizer and automobiles, which are, by and large, simple products, we really don't have much more; in the case of automobiles the business model is by and large assembly and the deletion programmes if they ever existed were mostly shelved long ago. Our exports, almost entirely revolve around agriculture produce or raw commodities which in turn are dependent upon depleting natural resources; an issue planned for next week's write up.
Frankly, the reasons for the optimism over increasing exports, even in the medium term, is puzzling; for my money that will require a planned and deliberate intervention of the State, much beyond coming up with incentives. The author's concluding remark on the topic is worrying because it seems quite near the truth, "Over time, rich but specialised economies usually lose ground to economies that enjoy more diversity".
Being open to fresh thought is a virtue, especially compared with the belief that everyone else's views are imbecilic. In that spirit, I am experimenting with Messy, and while it is decidedly an untidy affair, will revert with my findings sometimes in the future. Cheers!
(The writer is a chartered accountant based in Islamabad. Email: [email protected])