Titbits: Labour Market Flexibility, Depreciation of the rupee, Inflation and The pitfalls of a passive approach

Labour Market Flexibility

You must have caught sight of the “Artworks” produced at strategic places by the temporary workers recruited under the Tourism Fund. These workers are under a one year contract and have been recruited to supplement the work already being done by others. The TINAwallahs have rushed in to claim that it is our flexible labour laws which have helped to create jobs, even in a recession. They had first of all, without much of evidence, but with lot of conviction in their neoliberal economic order, questioned the efficiency of the welfare state labour market institutions. They had pushed for the hire and fire employment laws but with a logic that lacks sufficient basis.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): the mess

(Published in L'Express)

From the new Finance Bill, we can read that “companies shall in every year, set up a CSR Fund equivalent to 2% of its book profit derived from the preceding year to implement(a) an approved programme by the Company;(b) implement an approved programme under the National Empowerment Foundation; or(c) an approved NGO.” Elections beckoning, most of our representatives from the 20 constituencies of the country are toiling hard to come up with their list of priority social projects and they know very well how to “weave, it neatly and effectively with Government social policies for greater impact on the targeted areas and groups”that will be benefiting from the huge CSR fund. 

Economic Parnership Agreement (EPA) with EU

The confident certainty of some of the interviewees and interventions on the advantages and opportunities that will accrue to Mauritius following the economic partnership agreement between eastern and southern Africa and EU surprised many. We just have to jump on this frenetic trade treadmill – the EPA-EU partnership -that they cannot shut off, it will lead us to the goldmine heralding a new business ebullience. But there are quite some skeptics; they are not all convinced ; free of the  intellectual straitjackets that hobble so many of our bureaucrats and elite, they do more than just skim the surface and distribute their comments all around as if these are the conclusive evidence of  some meaningful research.