by Ottah Osondu
Once upon a time, I went to a government organization and I have to wait patiently until the official I went to see stroll in hours later. At the sight of the man, I impulsively looked at my watch; it was few minutes before noon. I would have understood a little if it was a Friday (and I would have said he is observing Jumat though he is not a Muslim) but it was on a Monday! But nonetheless, it was a single case and I gave him an excuse that maybe he has an emergency at home and so needed to spend some time dealing with it (till then, I have not been a big visitor to government agencies.)
Some years later, I went to another government agency, in another zone of the country; but this time, the woman I had an appointment with was not forthcoming and as patience gave way to impatience, I called her on phone, only for her to tell me she will not be coming to the office that day. She has decided to stay off work without even calling the office to inform the Secretary, and this incident made me remember the many stories I have heard about the indifference of workers to their work, especially the civil servants.
I remembered sitting in my Economics classes back in Secondary School and while teaching us the various means of economic exchange the teacher never mentioned anything like ‘Kakonomics’, and while in Government classes, the teacher never mentioned the word either. And all through my days as an undergraduate in the University, I never came across the word, not in my discussions with lecturers, friends or at any of the entrepreneurial and life building programs or workshops I attended.
Honestly, I only stumbled on the concept during my internet surfing a day after Rio 2016 has ended. An article on www.bbc.com written by Manuela Saragosa published on 22 August, 2016 titled: How to be mediocre and be happy with yourself.
Kakonomics is a concept developed by two Italian academics, Gloria Origgi, a philosopher and researcher at Jean Nicod Institute in Paris, and Diego Gambetta, a professor of sociology at Oxford University. Gloria Origgi said ‘Kakonomic worlds are worlds in which people not only live with each other laxness, but expect it: I trust you not to keep your promises in full because I want to be free not to keep mine and not feel bad about it…Kakonomics is regulated by a tacit social norm of discount on quality, a mutual acceptance for a mediocre outcome that satisfies both parties, as long as they go on saying publicly that the exchange is in fact at a High-quality level.’
The word originated from Greek, Kako means crab, inferior, low quality. Kakonomics as described by www.Edge.org as the preference for mediocre exchanges insofar as nobody complains about it. In Kakonomic transaction, the both parties does not only have standard preferences to receive High-quality good and deliver a Low-quality one but they actually prefer to deliver a Low-quality good and receive a Low-quality one, that is they agree on a Low-Low exchange. Paradoxically if one of the party delivers a High-quality good instead of the expected Low-quality one, the other party will resents it as a breach of trust, even if he did not acknowledge it openly.
Kakonomics is strange, yet it is wide spread in the Nigerian society. In an ideal economic situation, each party seeks the attainment of the highest satisfaction (even if they do not bring a High-quality good to the transaction.) But in the Nigerian society we will see someone brings Low-quality good in an exchange because he expects a Low-quality good in return. An employee will not give his best to the organization because he expects to receive a Low-quality good (salary, working condition, work safety) in return. An artisan produces a shoddy product or fails to deliver on time because he expects to be underpaid or paid late. In a program, the audience won’t come on time because they expect it to start late, and in most cases it do happen because we have subconsciously or uncannily accept it as the Modus Operandi. The citizens give the country a second-rate patriotism because they expect the government to give them a second-rate service and amenities.
One of the reasons proffered for why people opt for Kakonomic is the desire to ‘freestyle’ through life. The expectation to give a product or service of high quality can be tiring, so they willingly expect a low quality one so they will give one in return.
No matter the good things people have to say about Kakonmics, it has never done any nation good in the long. To move as a nation we have to start giving our best in all transaction and demand nothing less than the best from the other party in any transaction.
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Op–ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija
Author: Ottah Osondu, a concerned Nigeria who still believe in the Nigeria project
