Should the Government be the ‘employer of first resort’?

Politicising youth employment

In the early years after independence, it was generally accepted that the government’s role was limited to providing defence, national security, revenue collection and a few other basic services. In sectors such as education and health, employment was provided both by the government and the private sector. From the late 1950s a combination of a severe decline in the terms of trade and the inappropriate economic policies of successive governments resulted in low investment and slow growth making it difficult for the economy to absorb the increasing numbers of youth leaving school or graduating from universities. The increasingly statist response to these pressures led to the government becoming more directly involved in employment creation. The 1971 Insurrection also generated political pressures which gave added momentum to the government’s role in this regard.

Subsidies & Controls are a Panacea for Farmers’ woes

The long-term prospect of our agricultural sector is severely constrained by extreme inefficiencies in both markets and public policies. This casts a very heavy burden on all Sri Lankans, particularly the poor and vulnerable. Many of the latter include members of our rural population who are trapped in an unsatisfactory status quo of low-productivity, low-income agricultural activity. This latest Pathfinder Foundation Election Myth Buster seeks to demonstrate how this unwarranted reliance on subsidies and administered prices imposes a heavy burden on the entire population and serves as a drag on the development prospects of our economy and nation.

Hand-Outs and Subsidies - Who is Left Holding the Bag?

The Pathfinder Foundation in its blueprint on economic reform, ‘Charting the Way Forward: Prosperity for All’, highlighted the following paragraph:

Sri Lanka needs to follow good practice which is being pursued by an increasing number of countries around the world. All hand- outs, subsidies and other welfare measures included in the manifestos should be costed and specific measures should be identified for financing the incremental costs involved. This will enable the voters to assess the financial viability of the promises made by various political parties and to make a clean break from the ‘auction of non-existent resources’ which have characterized party manifestos in the past.