Mouood Mouood English Edition
Yet another case in point is that of production.
Economic theorists examine the factors of production, including the relevant specialization and techniques. They try to identify the positive and negative influences affecting production, in theoretical terms such as of diminishing returns.
The socio-economic policy-makers, on the other hand, investigate the very rationale of any free or unplanned production, specially the question as to whether or not any production should be undertaken as an aim in itself, or as a part of a socioeconomic plan seeking higher, including moral, aims.
Furthermore, the policy-makers may, before setting any production targets, resolve issues, such as whether or not any distribution needs should be determined on the basis of actual production, or production should be so planned as to serve the distribution requirements, all in the context of bringing about mutually harmonious socioeconomic effects.
Then, it may involve the question as to how can an appropriate distribution of wealth be achieved, so as to have a positive effect on the productivity of the economy, also, if production is assigned primary importance, it will be necessary to provide incentives for capital investment in that sector, as ‘well as for commercial loans, in any plan that aims at regulating distribution of wealth and which considers the interests pertaining to capital.
If not, they may formulate a distribution programme in keeping with the needs of socioeconomic justice and determine the nature and extent of production accordingly. All these considerations and qualitative or other evaluations are possible within the framework of an appropriate socioeconomic policy-making, and lie beyond the theoretical scope of pure economists.
From the foregoing, we may draw two conclusions involving different guidelines. Firstly, the pure economists’ identification of the actual economic realities, and recognition of the underlying laws and phenomena present in economic life. Secondly, the socioeconomic policy-makers’ system of evaluating and regulating socio-economic life based on the concept of justice. Thus, distinguishing between “knowledge of economy” and “method of economy” is made easy for us.
The scientific method recognises the motives and achievements and relationship between them, through the investigation of the realties presented. Therefore, ‘knowledge’ is analogous to a Pair of glasses to look at the actual economic life of a society. Just as a person puts on glasses to look at the existing facts not desiring to add something to it or alter in it any way, likewise, the scientific method plays the role of the glasses in economic life, to reflect economic laws and their dependency. Thus, the general foundation of scientific thought is for discovery recognition.
But a school of thought cannot be compared to a pair of glasses for looking at any existing facts. It represents an abstract concept governing life under a just and equitable socio-economic system.
Therefore, “knowledge of economy” states “what is taking place in reality”, and ‘ method‟states “what kind of system is the best to be pursued”.
We find similar differences between knowledge of history and moral investigation, because knowledge scientifically viable facts of historic or actual significance, as in the case of pure economics, and moral investigation is similar to socio-economic policy-making and its inductive and deductive, evaluations.
People, without doubt, realise that .knowledge of history is a separate subject from moral investigation. They also know that historians will inform them of historical events, and their causes.
Any branch of knowledge like history investigates the past events and discovers their causes, and explains their relationship to other historical events and the impact on human lives. History confines itself to the discovery of causes and effects of historical events, and under no circumstances does it evaluate these events from the moral point of view.
History is not concerned with the morality of the crusades, or the attack of barbaric Germans on the Roman Empire, and, as such, it does not determine as to whether or not these actions were just or unjust. It is only a moral investigation which can make this kind of judgement.
Moral investigation is able to evaluate these events and decide whether they were just or unjust, correct or deviate, on the basis of a philosophy of justice.
Just as knowledge of history introduces events as they happened, and moral investigation evaluates these events, likewise knowledge of economy introduces the phenomena of economic life, and the socio-economic policy-making process evaluates the phenomena, and produces a system worthy enough to constitute the basis of an economy, which is just.
All branches of scientific knowledge have a duty to discover facts. Thus, there is no difference between an economics professor and other professors, except that the economist deals with the facts of an economy, and other professors deal with their own subjects involving facts.
For example, physicists investigate the different frequencies of light, sound, etc, and discover the precise equations and relationships concerning the natural phenomena. An atomic Physicist may discuss an atom bomb from the purely scientific and technical point of view, without showing any concern for the immorality of its use for genocide.
Clearly, the role of knowledge of economy is to discover the phenomena of economic life, and the circumstances they depend upon, and the aim of a socio- economic policy-making process is to arrive at a system that can regulate economic life in order to make it just and equitable for society.
Many groups make a mistake when they attribute a subjective difference between pure economics and the socio-economic policy-making process. These groups believe that economics, as a branch of knowledge, may discuss topics, such as production and the factors involved in its growth, and the socio-economic policy-making process involves primarily the question of distribution in an equitable manner, and the relationship which exists between the individual and society on one hand and distribution system on the other.
The examples have shown that a purely economic investigation depends upon the phenomena and facts of an economic situation. If the investigation concerns itself with the concept of justice, and the manner of regulating the economic situation, then it is an ideological or moral investigation.
This can be further explained by referring again to the contexts of the law of diminishing returns and that of wages, which concern ‘production’ and ‘distribution’ situations, respectively. In the case of the law of diminishing returns, it signifies mostly the realities of agricultural production, in which land is a constant factor, irrespective of the ownership and the kind of the overall socioeconomic system affecting the same.
The Ricardian ‘iron law’ of wages, too, involves a scientific basis of investigation. Unlike the law of diminishing returns, however, it is predicated on a specific kind of-economy. Yet, it cannot be construed as something resulting, exclusively from either scientific or ideological considerations or investigations. While its validity depends solely on a control free (capitalist) economy, it cannot-represent a sufficiently comprehensive basis for any argument that it is more ideological than scientific in nature and content.
