Politicians, Not Our Democracy, Tired

We know that our political leaders don't have a good plan for Mauritius. But we also know that they can do plenty with our excellent constitution and electoral system. If they want to. Indeed, Parliament recently passed a landmark amendment to the criminal code to allow abortion in certain cases. For sure a lot of misery can be caused if one or more bean-counters somehow gets into the driver seat. Worse, our national finances can spin out of control. As they have.

It's not our democracy's fault. Things will improve if our current politicians get their priorities right or if we get a whole new slate of them. Making your voices heard won't hurt.

Why Our Economy Was Not Resilient in 2008

Or in the recent past contrary to what the Financial Secretary would have us believe. Here are a few pointers:

1. Growth in USD was about -5% in that year.
2. The Misery Index was close to a 10-year high -- average inflation was 70% higher than under Federation 2.
3. We missed the rebound in the World Economy in 2010 -- resilience means rebounding by the way.

If you're still not convinced have a look at our little but growing collection on the topic.

Meet The Misery Index

It's already tough when you're facing high inflation. Now just imagine that you're without a job as well. It becomes hellish and it's the reason why Arthur Okun suggested back in the 70's that we add the two together to come up with his Misery Index. And why inflation targets have become so popular since 1989.

Computing it for Mauritius yields interesting insights. It hit a 10-year high of 20.5% at the end of 2007 and stayed almost put at 20% a year later. That's close to double the level when Ramgoolam lost power in 2000. Federation 2 had also a much lower average than the supply-side folly of Sithanen: 13.3% vs 19.4%. That is Sithanen's new model produced 46% more misery.