Between complacent bureaucracy and cruel market
Every society wrestles with a fundamental question: how much should the state take care of its people, and how much should it leave to the market? Tilt too far toward an all-embracing welfare state and you risk breeding complacency — where some citizens, knowing their basic needs will be met regardless, lose the incentive to work, innovate or contribute. Swing to the other extreme — pure free-market capitalism — and you end up with a merciless system that rewards the already advantaged while trapping the structurally disadvantaged in a cycle of poverty.
Pakistan is no stranger to this dilemma. We have, over the decades, flirted with both instincts - populist slogans promising 'roti, kapra, makaan' on one side, and IMF-prescribed market reforms on the other. Yet we have rarely paused to ask: where exactly is the balance between dignity and productivity, compassion and enterprise?
The fear of "free riders" in a welfare system is real. In any society, there will be those who exploit subsidies, dodge work and game the system. But in Pakistan, the........
© The Express Tribune
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 Toi Staff
Toi Staff Gideon Levy
Gideon Levy Tarik Cyril Amar
Tarik Cyril Amar Stefano Lusa
Stefano Lusa Mort Laitner
Mort Laitner Mark Travers Ph.d
Mark Travers Ph.d Ellen Ginsberg Simon
Ellen Ginsberg Simon Andrew Silow-Carroll
Andrew Silow-Carroll


 
                                                            
 
         
 