The world is in the grips of a great financial and economic crisis. To almost all finance and management experts it is simply a financial meltdown, or a credit crisis, or a maximum recession. But for the economists with strong backgrounds in economic theory, policy and history (who are very few in number), this is the great depression II, far more severe than the Great Depression of 1929.

The market boom (before the downfall) saw economics denigrated into oblivion in the onslaught of the glittering courses of modern business schools (B-schools) that produced high-salary and bonus-earning graduates making CEO and top manager positions. However, the present crisis brings economics back into the forefront for drafting strategies and policies for making a speedy recovery. Now at the peak of the crisis, almost all those "products" of the business schools, including Harvard, suddenly stuck their heads in the sand like ostriches. Now they are being accused as the prime culprits of the current crisis. They are publicly condemned as pick-pockets and street pimps for their greed and immorality.

Almost all business schools rivaled each other for breeding greedy, jealous, manipulative and unscrupulous managers and business executives earning huge amounts of money in the age of corporate culture. They challenged the very foundation and wisdoms of political economy. In the new age of information technology, a generation of economists with mathematical and statistical tools and computing techniques have dominated the scene and watered-down economics with a set of formulas and equations. True economics has been whittled down to a minor branch of mathematics or statistics. It has been reduced to mere data and information without the backing of any wisdom and knowledge.

The actual contribution of business schools and their graduates to the healthy development of the national as well as global economy, and in the promotion of global trade, is a disputed or questionable one. Of course, they have squeezed the economy for their own greed and added to the misery of millions, especially for the poor for promoting consumerism, aggressive marketing and credit based purchase of consumer items.

They ruined the financial stability of millions of families, turning them into debtors and wiped out thrift and saving mentality from society. With their lavish funding, they have even corrupted all the major religions, with many becoming increasingly materialistic by promoting consumerism at the cost of spirituality and compassion. It must be mentioned that almost all major business and industrial establishments are built by real entrepreneurs without qualifications from any of the B-Schools. Now the real question is whether we need any of these immoral, unethical and greed and fraud-promoting institutions in the future.

It is high time we made economics free from the narrow boundaries of a set of mathematical formulas and equations and set it aside from the computer generated data and information. It was a crime to reduce economics to a simplified framework of data and information, ignoring knowledge and wisdom, which are ultimately our real sources of wealth. They alone save us in times of crisis and peril. The world needs the vision, wisdom and knowledge of political economists for a fair and ethical global order and society. Universities must come forward to re-emphasise the study of the political economy by attracting the best students and professors. That way, they can develop a holistic view of the working economy and the inter-dependence of its various sectors besides the diverse economies of the world and the global economy.

Managers must be made socially accountable for the creation of wealth, income and employment and thereby attain social well being both at national and global levels. They have to plan, organize and get things done by setting objectives for their firms. Furthermore, they should focus on broader social goals and strive for a sound and healthy economy. They must follow a set of well-defined business ethics and fair practices. Otherwise, they become criminals who shatter the very foundations of families, enterprises, nations and the entire global economy.

Raju M. Mathew

Abu Dhabi

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