PM advises economists not to be misled by 'clever governments'

New Delhi, Jul 27 (KNN)  The purpose of the economic studies  is not to provide settled answers to unsettled and difficult questions, but to caution the world against being misled by “clever” governments,  Prime Minister  Manmohan Singh said today.

Singh, who is an economist of international repute, gave this advice to his peers from the world of economics at a function of the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) here.

“The purpose of the study of economics is not to provide settled answers to unsettled and difficult questions, but sometimes to warn economists and the world-at-large, how not to be misled by clever governments,” he remarked.  

Describing the NCAER as a great national asset, the Prime Minister said, “I would like to say, that when we study economics, our impulse is not the philosopher’s impulse – knowledge for the sake of knowledge – but for healing that that knowledge may help to bring. These are the words of past thinkers: Wonder is the beginning of philosophy; but it is not wonder, but social enthusiasm, which revolts against the silence of fixed life, and the orderliness of the mainstream, which is the beginning of economic science.”  (KNN/PC)