Nemo’s Utopia
In latin, Nemo means no one.
In Greek, Utopia means no where.
Economics is a social science and not a science per se. Like Sociology and Psychology, it tries to come out with statements about human behaviour and studies them. But there is a big danger when these statements are taken as truths.
For e.g. in psychology, Freud’s theory of the Oedipus complex (the one where you want to marry your mother) has caused irreparable psychological damage to society by claiming it as a cure. You would visit a marriage counsellor and that quack would throw a sentence: “oh it’s because your husband is not like your father” (this is called Electra’s complex). Even if you know deep inside it is wrong, the analyst will keep pushing that theory claiming you’re in denial until you start lying to yourself to convince that the theory is right. Thankfully Oedipus/Electra has been falsified and debunked and most psychologist agree that it was only Sigmund Freud that wanted to sleep with his mother.
Same applies to all these pseudo-psychological terms we keep hearing and pushed by HR to create harmony in the workplace: this person is type A or type B personality etc.
What is worse, psychology ran away from the purely academic and became friends with the pharmaceutical industry: Are you suffering from depression because you are unhappy with work? Feeling worried about how society is run? Sentiments of malaise, loss and confusion with no determinate future? No problem, here is an anti-depressant to get you back up and running as a numb Zombie cog in the machine. The irony here is that “religion was considered the opium of the masses”. Now opioids are the opium of the masses.
I’m not making things up here: Jordanians are known to be unhappy (food and smoke being their only escape, hence high obesity and smoking rates, and their dreams of running away from this country). If one added the 2nd law of thermodynamics to socio-economics, one could get to the conclusion that things are heating up to the point of blowing up (God forbid). But we are not mixing a law from Physics into Economy.
So how do we escape from this un-natural rut, and really focus on boosting productivity and build a country where (mostly) everyone is pleased?
Respecting one’s self
Not to cause insult, but let’s be honest: the Jordanian work ethic is unlike the Japanese work ethic. Some call it the “All Chiefs no Indians” work ethic. A Jordanian is more than happy to sit for hours drinking coffee, having a chat with friends and colleagues, surfing the internet and complaining on social media how bad things are in the country, with a few minutes of productive work during the day. This undisciplined attitude can be despised by the owners and managers of the workplace, even sometimes by the complaining clients. I personally sometimes admire it and consider it a symbol or resistance against the neo-liberal system being put in place on this earth.
So when higher up policy makers decide on implementing a new policy, they need to consider the Jordanian factor. If the ministry of transport wants to build a street, they need to take into account how Jordanians drive and not just blindly copy international standards. This is how they ensure the street will run smoothly as intended by including the Jordanian factor. Same applies to other laws and economic policies.
Economists want to copy the American system with large corporations having retail shops all around the country. Pharmacy One for e.g. simply failed because it didn’t include the Jordanian factor of “All Chiefs”. Every Jordanian wants to be his own boss and run his own shop to guarantee his “livelihood”. Pharmacy One could’ve simply created a franchise system for smaller privately owned pharmacies; they could’ve built a distribution facility including an accounting software system for all (with insurance) and operate from one hub. Every pharmacy would be owned by the original founder (and not bought out) who would still care for their customers. With large chains, the local branch manager doesn’t really care if the business is doing well or not. You would call them up and their attitude would be more like: “What do you want?” Instead of “How can I help you?” (And that is why businesses waste money on recording conversations to monitor or try to invest in robot advisors to handle customer inquiries).
So how do we find out what people want? Just bloody ask them.
Before the pandemic and the rise of hybrid work models and WFH (work from home), studies were made and showed that most people were more productive when they showed up less at work:
You really don’t need to pay millions to consultants to see the evident in front of you.
Also another reason you don’t have motivated productive workers:
(This issue of labour productivity I’ve covered in the unemployment newsletter including the supply/demand dynamics in the labour force)
So how do we create a balanced work lifestyle taking into account Jordanian-ness?
Working hard or hardly working Juha?
We all heard of the Bill Gates anecdote where he always hired the laziest worker: it’s the person that wants to find a solution as quickly as possible in order to go back to doing nothing. In another sense, the lazy worker is the most efficient, most optimal. Not to mix physics and economics, it is like the beam of light, always travelling the shortest distance, which happens to be a straight line (or geodesic).
This is simply called: working smart. It gets you happy workers with high productivity and less headaches.
Economics by definition means “to save”. This method of work is the most economic in the orignal sense as one saves on time, money and stress. This seems to be the natural state of things. Jordanians were right from the beginning to be lazy, it’s the natural order here and they simply listened to their natural instinct. A Jordanian can concentrate really hard for a short period and get a things done. But the daily monotonous drudge a la Fordism-Taylorism is not for everyone and could kill the soul of the economy. Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times was a warning to society.
Work is natural. Work is essential. It is written in all the Holy Books:
“By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food” Genesis 3:19
وَأَن لَّيْسَ لِلْإِنسَـٰنِ إِلَّا مَا سَعَىٰ ٣٩
But work needs to be smart.
Let’s be inspired by Bhutan and create our own “GNH” index: Smart Productivity + Happiness Index - Success Envy 🧿
Let’s move away from Lemon Socialism and build a new Jameed Capitalism to escape the “Prisoner’s Dilemma”.
