Vijay Kumar Gaba

It is a basic human tendency to long for what they do not possess. It is common to find people who have struggled very hard to achieve certain goals; but almost instantly feel dissatisfied with (or indifferent to) the outcome. They either realize that it was not something they actually wanted in the first place; or they immediately shift the goal post and begin to struggle/strive for a different/higher goal. This basic human tendency, that often manifests in a constant need to move, evolve and grow, is at the core of all economic growth and development. And perhaps this is the key factor that undermines the issue of sustainability.

Metaverse is nothing but a realization that humans never wanted to globalize in the first place. They like to remain confined to their caves and tribes. It was perhaps the starvation and disease that would have forced the first tranche of immigration.

Of course since the end of the stone age, this realization has taken more than 5000 years; many rounds of polluting industrialization; chopping of billions of trees; extinction of many species; killing of millions of people in wars, to dawn upon the mankind. And it may actually not be the full circle and we may still want something more once we realize the goal of living in a predominantly virtual world.

If I may put this hypothesis in a more recent context-

·         The people of USSR were sick of the central command economy and wanted a democracy that facilitates their participation in the global growth and development; besides making the governance structure transparent, corruption free and progressive. Gorbachev gave them an opening to the world they were struggling to live in. In less than two decades, they chose to hand over the power to an authoritative leader who is not even committed to any socio-political ideology; aspires to restore Tsarist colonial ambitions and cares least for the global order, transparency and accountability.

·         China, which has consistently supported Pakistan’s demand of self determination by Kashmiri people at all global platforms, refuses the same rights to the people of Tibet and Taiwan. The Chinese authorities and businesses demand equal rights for their companies from the governments of foreign jurisdiction where such Chinese corporations have established operations. However it refuses to allow similar justice and freedom to its own corporations and entrepreneurs like Jack Ma.

·         We find that for almost a decade the central bankers of the developed world struggled to create inflation and full employment in their respective economies. When the inflation finally occurred, it is now their biggest problem.

·         The farmers, agriculture experts and politicians in India clamored for farm sector reforms for many decades. But when a significant part of these reforms were delivered, people launched a movement for reversal of these reforms.

·         The industrialists and financial market participants long for accelerated economic and fiscal (tax) reforms. However a mere mention of withdrawal of Income Tax exemptions and concessions (e.g., LTCG) makes them apprehensive.

The simple point is that the investors should not get passionately attached to a new trend or event. Most of these could be ephemeral; and could evaporate as soon as these go out of media headlines.