The title might sound oxymoronic to the economic practices prevalent in most parts of the world. But it is, although unfamiliar, one of the most lucrative, sought-after and practiced pursuits in societies with a considerable knowledge divide. That is, in societies where obscurantism is systematically maintained, it acts both as a cause and a manifestation of the sustenance of the stakes and estates of the stakeholders.

The opacity, apart from keeping populations from rights enjoyed by their peers in many other social settings, makes them prey to oppressive, coercive and extractive practices. This way, a systematically cultivated ignorant population serves both as a means to greater ends and as an end in itself. This makes ignorance one of the most widely harnessed, though not professed, practices in a society.

The economy of ignorance, a practice as old as the first humans, has thrived and evolved over millennia, often justified through brute force, divine rights over socio-economic and political stakes, slavery, colonialism and their modern........

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