Eminent economist Wahiduddin Mahmud has said inefficient and incomplete marketing is an obstacle to the path of development.
He said it is possible for economics students of Bangladesh to win the Nobel Prize if they can analyse the economic activities around them with inquisitive minds.
Wahiduddin Mahmud made this remark in his public address at the inaugural ceremony of the 'Fourth Bangladesh Economic Conference' organised by the Dhaka University Economics Study Centre on Thursday.
Professor at Economics Department of Dhaka University, Atonu Rabbani, moderated the event.
The theme of this year's 8-day conference beginning from 24 is 'economy for change'.
Alongside the public speech, this year's conference has been designed with designated discussions, policy debate, research paper presentation, composition competition, and spiconomics on Zoom platform.
Economic growth is measured through various indexes. But economics does not say which country and how can progress towards sustainable development. The condition of Argentina and Japan was same in 1900. After so many years, the gap between two countries is so large. On the contrary, there is high disparity and financial crisis in the world, but there is no explanation in economics theory. Not only that, the economy deals with people's self-interests.
Wahiduddin Mahmud's presentation was on 'Economy Beyond Boundaries: Prospects and Problems'.
Wahiduddin Mahmud said, "We use western books as textbooks for economics. We have varieties of markets from village markets to shopping malls. There is scope to analyse these in various ways."
"Indians live in three centuries simultaneously. Our market is like this to a great extent," Wahiduddin Mahmud said, quoting Indian actress and social worker Shabana Azmi.
He said the inaccurate statistics are the characteristics of inefficient marketing. He also said once a huge amount of water was mixed with milk in the Indian capital Delhi. After this disclosure, the buyers would buy milk but paid less. At one stage more water was mixed and the buyers would pay further less. The issue was settled through the application of strict law and using lactometer.
Detrimental carbohydrate is used for harvesting mangoes, lychees and bananas and there is a market behind this
Bad carbohydrates are used for harvesting mangoes, lychees and bananas and there is a market behind this, Wahiduddin Mahmud observed.
Wahiduddin Mahmud said the economic growth is measured through various indexes. But economics does not say which country and how can progress towards sustainable development. The condition of Argentina and Japan was same in 1900. After so many years, the gap between two countries is so large. On the contrary, there is high disparity and financial crisis in the world, but there is no explanation in economics theory. Not only that, the economy deal with people's self-interests.
Wahiduddin Mahmud said the students may feel bad if it is said in this way. But it is true there is selfishness in economy. It is an innate tendency and the economics does not look at all behaviour.
Citing an example, Wahiduddin Mahmud said, "Would the market be sustainable if a buyer wanted to buy commodities at higher price showing sympathy to a poor seller or if a seller would sell commodities at a lower price showing sympathy towards a poor buyer?"
According to neuroscience, the matter of liberalism is less in the brain where the financial matter works, Wahiduddin Mahmud pointed out.