National Economic Dementia: Learning From Economic Mistakes We Keep Repeating

Why do we keep making the same economic mistakes – even when the consequences are already painfully familiar?

Economic crises rarely emerge without warning. Rising debt, recurring balance-of-payments problems, inflation, weak productivity, unsustainable imports and repeated dependence on external assistance often follow patterns that have been seen before. Yet, despite decades of experience, analysis and policy debates, we can find ourselves returning to remarkably similar crises again and again.

This session explores the idea of “national economic dementia” as a provocative metaphor for a collective failure to remember, and learn from, our economic past. Why do lessons from previous crises appear to fade so quickly? Why do short-term political priorities repeatedly overshadow long-term economic reform? And why do policies that have failed before continue to return in different forms?

This conversation brings together Shabbar Zaidi, former Chairman of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), renowned chartered accountant, author, and one of Pakistan’s most outspoken public intellectuals, and Umair Javed, entrepreneur and industrialist, for a candid discussion on the country’s economic challenges.

This session is free and open to all. Just visit the venue to attend it.

The Black Hole
Plot 5H, Street 100, G-11/3, Islamabad.
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