FLASH
Shkruar nga Ben Andoni
Unfortunately, at a time when science and technology are playing a key role in the economic and social development of countries where these topics need to be treated differently, Albania continues to rank last in Europe and in the region for the number of scientific publications published, referring to a 2023 study of "Science" (Birn, 2024).
More and more irrationalities are being seen with rational logic, as they are considered as indicators, from where the realization of some ideas and developments can be seen, which do not correspond to the naked eye or to rational judgments, where the opinion of researchers is more involved. Today, you see the interest in irrationalities in the motivations of the big economic prizes (Nobel), but you also see it in the logic of how aspects of the specific developments of different countries are examined. For its part, Albania can be a good political laboratory, from where it can be seen how the abnormal development, unsupported in a genuine economic system, is making its way in the family of democratic countries and aiming for integration into the European community.
For the sake of truth, it is the way the world economy has been behaving over the past few decades that shows that mainstream economists are coming to understand the importance of various "irrationalities" (here comes biases, anomalies, preferences, etc.; Samson, 2014 -2021; Thaler 2016) in economic analysis, which is in line with what many other anti-neoclassical economic schools have emphasized, e.g., the 'spirits of...' emphasized by John Maynard Keynes (Keynes, 1936, p. 161 -162); or 'unconscious', 'instincts' or 'impulses' in Freudian psychology, refers Bin Li, an independent researcher at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It is understood that we are not going to explain this element in detail, because we would need a lot of research as help, but one thing is understandable, it seems that irrationalities are what often give 'rational' elements to us. Unfortunately, at a time when science and technology are playing a key role in the economic and social development of countries where these topics need to be treated differently, Albania continues to rank last in Europe and in the region for the number of scientific publications published, referring to a 2023 study of "Science" (Birn, 2024). Almost two years ago, MP Tabaku defined some of our irrationalities as the "paradoxes of Rama governments": 1. There are jobs, but there are no professionals.\2. There are no professionals, but Albania has been reborn.\3. Renaissance came, the Albanians are leaving. 4. Albanians flee, but the galloping growth continues in Albania!"
In a recent "Monitor" editorial, the argument goes further and shows the paradox of how it happens that countries rich in natural resources are often considered to be the poorest, and for this the example of our country was taken: "Our country is a typical case of how the many natural assets, in relation to the population and surface area, have not helped to improve the well-being of its population, which even today continues to remain among the poorest in Europe. We have the largest oil-bearing field on earth in Patos-Marinze, but still after almost two decades, the company that uses it with a concession does not pay taxes.
The numerous sources of chrome have mostly become the cause of conflicts due to the informality of exploitation, or the source of accidents as a result of poor safety measures. We have plenty of water, sun, but we still import an average of 20-50% of the energy we need per year, because we don't manage to diversify the resources".
But let's go back to our argument? The first factor that comes to mind among economists for irrationalities is the computational cost or the cost of thinking (Conlisk, 1996), which prevents the thinking process from achieving the desired optimality, the above researcher refers. Does it work and are there such irrationalities in us? It would be a really great achievement for public opinion, but time and reality, as well as the models we follow, show that the opinion and its calculated 'cost' are not yet at the right levels. Therefore, it will be necessary to treat "thinking time" separately. Time, although a "cost", should not be considered fully monetizable and thus fully comparable to traditional quantitative cost-benefit analysis. It is clear that the highlighted "irrational" tendencies correspond to the imperfection of accumulated knowledge; which as soon as the latter is discovered and proven, especially in the analytical rigor like that of neoclassical economics, it would become sufficiently acceptable as "rational", Li refers. Where can such a theory be found and how can we become more connected to it?
The most obvious irrationality in us is not related to this aspect, which seems almost metaphysical, but to the fact that national intellectual problems are not usually debated by former specialists, engineers or university professors, academics, intellectuals, but people who are far from these confrontations, even with a truncated education. A considerable number of them, now in their third year, are under the help of children, unable to face life in Albania, but above all surrounded by oblivion. A whole human capital and a level of thought, which should be considered luck, that do not come close to "irrationality". To think that a part served Albania and sacrificed with idealism with the belief that our country would reach the highest parameters, thanks to that potential of natural resources and a vital people, which was once generated with the highest parameters in the world.
Lini një Përgjigje