Campaign for Economic Freedom is a nation-wide campaign that identifies poverty as Nepal’s primary problem and envisions a prosperous Nepal through the policies of economic freedom. The campaign aims to change the conversation from politics to political economy and start the discussion about the need to create business friendly environment. To ensure economic freedom, the campaign advocates for four key areas, Freedom to enterprise, Rule of Law and Security of Life and Property, Freedom of Choice and Competition, Accountable and Limited Government.
Freedom to Enterprise
It is the natural right of every citizen to be able to pursue his/her profession without any interference from the state or any other parties, unless they harm the rights of others. Economic right of the citizens is fully ensured in a society that embraces the policy of economic freedom, whereas society that does not allow economic freedom creates a lot of hurdles to its citizens who want to pursue their economic activities. Whether it is due to the cumbersome administration of the state or their impractical policies and laws, any person or organization who wants to run a business, produce, compete, choose, invest, make voluntary transactions, set prices, buy and sell, should face no hindrance in doing so, as long as the activities of these entrepreneurs do not harm others. Ultimately these entrepreneurs have an important role to play in creating employment and running the economy by producing the goods and services that the society needs.
The fact that Nepal is not regarded as an economically free country is highlighted by the World Bank’s Doing Business Report and the Fraser Institute’s Economic Freedom Index, which shows that there are a number of policy flaws in starting, operating and closing business in the country. These policies are necessary to create a conducive business environment by discouraging policies and activities that create barrier to entry for new businesses.
Therefore, it is necessary to adopt policies and laws that encourage enterprise building by bringing in the necessary infrastructure to run the enterprise business, electricity, etc.
Rule of Law and Security of Life and Property
The rule of law is indispensable for building a civilized society and discouraging anarchy; Nepal cannot be an exception to this. Rule of law is the belief that no one is above the law. In a society governed by rule of law, the state protects the interests of citizens and responsible officials holding the public offices are accountable to the citizens.
But in a society, where the rule of the individual is imposed i.e. rule by law, those who have influence and power, use the law and its mechanisms to further their own interests, indulging in impunity, which ultimately leads to chaos in society.
Although economic freedom is the basis of development in developed countries, it is ultimately supported by the rule of law, which protects the livelihoods of citizens by discouraging wrongdoings and in the absence of which anarchy prevails in the society. Instead of attracting foreign investment, there is a possibility of both the people and capital fleeing from that country.
Since the purpose of business is to earn profit by providing goods and services, the individual is allowed to acquire property without harming others and use the acquired property as per their will. If they are not allowed to do this, there is no motivation for the individuals to invest, produce and create employment through their economic activities.
This shows that the rule of law is inevitable for economic freedom. It is necessary to establish the rule of law by the state to protecting the livelihoods of its citizens from interference, by ensuring a fair and effective justice system. It instills confidence in the minds of the citizens to invest and trade.
Freedom of Choice and Competition
In order to ensure economic freedom, it is necessary to adopt policies that maintains fair environment of competition between the various players in the market. This leads to competition among the entrepreneurs and brings efficiency to their work, providing consumers with more choices.
As a consumer, choices are crucial in the market. It is not possible for entrepreneurs to succeed without attracting consumers towards their goods and services. This forces them to be creative and provide quality goods and services using new technologies at a lower price than their competitors. State can play an important role in protecting the interests of a limited number of players by restricting access to the newer players into the market, thus forming Monopolies, which deprive consumers of the opportunity to choose and make them pay more for the services and products.
To protect the interests of the consumers, such protectionist policies have to be discouraged and the state should allowing easy access to new (internal and external) competitors into the market to invest, make a profit and provide services.
Accountable and Limited Government.
Since the main source of running a state ultimately comes from the taxes collected from its citizens, it is the duty of the governments to be accountable towards their citizens. This is why we citizens pay taxes. When the government is accountable to its people, it will open up many possibilities of the development and will surely earn the trust of its people.
In a society where economic freedom is guaranteed, the state needs to step into areas which the citizens and private entities are unable to do, such as building roads, electricity, bridges, defense, security and so on. In case of areas that private sectors are capable of handling themselves, the state needs to play the role of a facilitator instead of adopting policy of unnecessary interference in the work that citizens are able to do on their own. The role of the state should be like a referee, who plays an important role to ensure the game is fair.
Market and entrepreneurs can take care of the prices, quality, good, services and wages, It is necessary for the state to create an environment for voluntarily transactions by discouraging bad practices and obstacles that may arise in the market place and utilize its resources for good cause.
The Campaign in a Nutshell
Economic Freedom Campaign believes that, we Nepali do not need to live in poverty as always. It is the right of every citizen to have complete control over improving their economic condition by their own means. Prosperity is possible in our generation, but it requires sound law and policies that ensure economic freedom.
