New Year’s Resolutions and Economic Planning

A happy new year to us all. 

A new year brings with it new opportunities, as new goals and targets are set. Majority of us set goals/ resolutions that we hope to attain in the coming year; exercise more, hit certain performance targets professionally, etc. By force of habit, we tend to deviate in pursuit of these goals, in some cases before the half year mark. To a certain extent this is only human nature. However, could this be tied to us learning from the way our own government handles its implementation of its formulated plan?

When it comes to making resolutions, do Ugandans learn from their government? Ambitious planning, but falling short when it comes down to implementation.

Initially, economic planning was designed to suit a communist/socialist economy. With all the resources under the ownership or control of the government, it makes perfect sense if the government drafts a strategy on allocation and distribution of resources and production in the economy. As a mixed economy, there’s a fair deal of Uganda’s resources in the control of private actors, hence implementation of plans can be limited on several fronts.

For the type of government, economic planning will be better suited in a socialist/ communist economy. However, on an individual basis, following through with one’s resolution is less dependent on their economic inclinations, and more about individual attitude. However, the common man who’s dependent on government programs like UPE will have his attitudes shaped by his benefactor (government) to some extent. I believe people more dependent on the government will be less willing to make resolutions, as they live with the comfort of knowing that crucial activities in their lives will be covered on government expenditure. Not the same can be said of the people working hard to pay taxes to feed the former; when your tax burden is high there is definitely an incentive to make resolutions – be in perfect health to make as much income as possible above what the government will tax you (one also needs to be in perfect health to evade taxes, but this is not a resolution to put on paper).

Finally, to compare with an economic system on the extreme right, the fascists – the Nazis – despite their dislike of socialism (ironically Nazism is derived from “National Socialism”), were very fervent supporters of economic planning.  Implementing such ideas, however horrible, on a grand scale cannot proceed without proper long-term strategy. But this blog is pure evidence of their failure in planning; if they were so efficient in planning, then a person of African heritage wouldn’t be calling them out in public, and getting away with it!

 Ceteris Paribus.

References
Caprino, Kathy (21st December 2019), "The Top 3 Reasons New Year’s Resolutions Fail And How Yours Can Succeed," in Forbes. 
Kakaire, Sulaiman (8th April 2015), "Why government failed to achieve many of its development plan targets," in The Observer.
Mugerwa, Yasin (9th April 2018), "Government admits failure on middle income dream," in The Daily Monitor.