AHMEDABAD: The concept of trusteeship, primarily the one propagated by Mahatma Gandhi, can work as antidote to potential deviations from public interest, said Prof Michael Spence, noted economist and 2001 Nobel laureate. He was speaking at the inaugural session of the day-long symposium on ‘Trusteeship and the Future of Capitalism’ at IIM, Ahmedabad (IIM-A).
“In representative democracies, and in other forms of government, interest groups matter, and they differ in their power to influence and organize. The result is potential deviation from what we might call the public interest in the formulation and implementation of policy,” said Prof Spence. “The antidote: the thing that is supposed to limit these deviations, is public service or trusteeship.”
The Mahatma had suggested trusteeship as a concept where a certain part of an individual’s wealth was held in trust for the greater good of society.
“By and large this system worked pretty well, when applied. But its application has been narrower than it should be and certainly than Gandhi envisioned in a more expansive social version of it... It used to be part of the concept of public service. These days, with a few exceptions, I don’t think most politicians think of themselves as trustees. Nor do leaders in business,” said Prof Spence.
“In representative democracies, and in other forms of government, interest groups matter, and they differ in their power to influence and organize. The result is potential deviation from what we might call the public interest in the formulation and implementation of policy,” said Prof Spence. “The antidote: the thing that is supposed to limit these deviations, is public service or trusteeship.”
The Mahatma had suggested trusteeship as a concept where a certain part of an individual’s wealth was held in trust for the greater good of society.
“By and large this system worked pretty well, when applied. But its application has been narrower than it should be and certainly than Gandhi envisioned in a more expansive social version of it... It used to be part of the concept of public service. These days, with a few exceptions, I don’t think most politicians think of themselves as trustees. Nor do leaders in business,” said Prof Spence.
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