Hello there! Welcome to Kaigi’s Economics’ Council! Do you have any idea as you choose to join this council, you actually have signed up for a roller-coaster ride of equilibrium (because as you go downward-sloping demanding fun, we will exhilaratingly supply those upwardly throughout the conference and as you prepare for Kaigi!)? Are you Keynes (read:keen) to get started? Us too!
Don’t scream yet! Of course, we all want to make the most out of this session, hence it is important to know our subject and materials before our conference day to make sure the activities that we have planned for you will go well and you, a future social scientist, are ready for critical thinking and reasoning. Please do not hesitate to join this council if you do not take economics, as we will guide you from the start till the end! As we prePareto efficiency, we will go through some simple guidelines of the aspects that will be discussed on the day, such as the theme and its focal point. The theme that we agreed upon for this council is the privatisation of basic needs (water, electricity, housing, healthcare etc), in relation to Malaysia, a developing nation and the international society, which face questions of privatisation.
What is privatisation? Privatisation, in simple words, is just the transfer of assets of a state-owned company to a private firm. An easy example is the current Malaysia Airlines, which was previously a government-owned-company but now had been privatised, being taken over by Khazanah Nasional Berhad.
What is so significant about privatisation? How does it relate to economics? Privatisation is ALL about economics, as economists assume (like they always do) that government-backed companies are always complacent hence they suffer from diseconomies of scale. Privatisation was initially done by Margaret Thatcher, the first Prime Minister with a Science Oxford degree (so Science students, what are you waiting for?!). Her policy on this act left a big impact on the British and international economy ; privatisation is also known as Thatcherism. Privatisation is said to improve efficiency, increase competition and spark economic growth.
With basic needs such as water, electricity and healthcare being privatised, does our future seem promising? What will happen to the provision of those with the firms being handled by profit-driven firms? Does the government still bail out firms managing basic utilities even though they fail miserably? In this conference, these questions will be discussed by the council (therefore the research packet) and intersecting views will be debated on an academic level to find out the best, if not a better solution to the current economic problems of the world.
Doesn’t this feel like queueing up for the best roller-coaster and Economics class (minus the essays and data response) in KYUEM? What are you waiting for? Sign up for this council ASAP! Should you have any enquiry, shoot the question up right away like the stock prices in 1920s (but don’t fall like they did in 1929) to our emails
