The Africa Review in Five highlights African current affairs from a Christian perspective. Listen and subscribe through Youtube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.
Today is Tuesday, August 22nd, A.D. 2023. This is The Africa Review in Five, written by Paul Schlehlein and presented by Yamikani Katunga.
The Broken Window Fallacy in Africa
South Africa is 5th in the worldwide Crime Index. Somalia is #12, Nigeria is #14, with three more African countries filling out the top 20. But is this really bad news? Perhaps there’s a silver lining. Doesn’t crime create jobs?
If there was less crime, security guards would lose their jobs. Without significant theft, steel manufacturers and welders would have no work because citizens would have no need for burglar bars on their doors and windows. The profits of businesses that sell razor wire, security cameras, stun guns, and padlocks would plummet. Brick masons who build security walls would lose their livelihoods. Couldn’t we then say that crime is beneficial at least in creating jobs? Couldn’t we say crime brings financial good to a country?
The answer is no. This aforementioned line of thinking falls prey to what conservative economists often call “The Broken Window Fallacy”. It goes like this. A boy throws a brick through the front window of a business and runs off. Now the owner must pay $200 to the glazer to replace the window. But the boy’s crime has created a job. It seems the vandal has done a good thing. Before, the glazer’s pockets were empty. Now his pockets are full.
A closer look changes our perspective. The owner had hoped to use that $200 to buy a suit. If the window hadn’t been smashed, he’d have had a window and a new suit. Now all he has is a window. No new employment was created, just employment to regain equilibrium.
The moral of the story is that to be economically successful, a nation mustn’t consider only one group that benefits but rather, the society as a whole. Certainly, the glazer is richer because of the vandalism, but the town is worse off, making crime a hindrance to their prosperity.
This is why it is foolish to think that crime in Africa brings greater financial benefits to the continent. It may make a few people richer, but African nations as a whole suffer greatly. Per the Management Study Guide, South Africa spends close to $67 billion per annum to contain violence. South Africa spends a large portion of the nation’s GDP, perhaps as much as 20%, just to fight off violent crime.
One would think the logic here is clear. Yet, nations for centuries have committed the Broken Window Fallacy and it remains as persistent now as it has in the past. This is often why nations are quick to go to war. The thinking is that manufacturing bullets, planes, and warships will create jobs and boost the economy. These governments like it when other nations throw bricks through their windows.
In actuality, the safest countries are the wealthiest countries. Businesses gravitate to nations where there is less crime. Why would a retail store go to a place where vandalism, theft, and assault are common? For example, why sell lawnmowers in a nation where half of the company’s money goes toward elaborate security measures? We shouldn’t shame companies that avoid doing business in poor areas if crime is the reason those areas are poor. The company is actually making a wise business decision.
This is why wealthy nations excel at protecting their people against crime. They are following their civic duty to, as 1 Peter 2:14 says, “punish those who do evil and praise those who do good.” According to Romans 13:4, governments have the responsibility to be “an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer”.
The police should not look the other way when stores are looted. This is not merciful or commendable. They shouldn’t force companies to purchase their own security team. The retailer’s tax dollars have already been paying the police and judicial system to protect them. Governments should come down swiftly and deliberately toward thieves. If they do not, poverty (among many other evils) will rise in that nation. As Isaiah 5:22-23 says: “Woe to those…who acquit the guilty for a bribe, and deprive the innocent of his right”!
Sin always has terrible consequences, one of which is growing poverty in a society. Let us urge our families and communities to follow after righteousness so that our nations will flourish. And let us avoid common errors like the Broken Window Fallacy, no matter how beautifully governments may package this delusion.
And that’s it for The Africa Review in Five on this Tuesday, August 22nd in the year of our Lord 2023. Subscribe to the Missionary Minds podcast on Spotify or Apple podcasts. I’m Yamikani Katunga. Be not weary in well-doing.