Value for Money

Imagine you are an Alien; all alone on a planet you cannot communicate with anyone ... now the question is "How to identify the economic status of this place?"

I am using the term economic status rather than technological, psychokinetic nor humanistic pedestals since these other fields of advancement may not be perceived so easily

Coming back to the topic of discussion... this was one of my observation during my ill-fated trip to Uganda; here i was handling Lakhs of Shillings just to buy a basic telephone card (converted around 30 Rs); and just as i was handling down the cash i suddenly felt a huge guilt of being spend-thrift (though i was well-aware of the exact value).

Now the situation of most of these african nations could have been explained by any economist as the ultimate mis-fit between inflation, unemployment and political mis-management. Just to prove a point, Zimbabwe has a inflation rate of 35,00,000% and here we are in India troubling the entire population of rag-pickers and heavy duty industrialists when the speed-o-meter touches the unimaginable 12%.

But for an alien, we cannot obviously explain with our complex models of economic indices but rather with a simpler concept of "Value for money"... so would be my explanation that any country where they really value their smallest denomination would be the one which is the most advanced economically, socially and even technologically.

I know that putting into simpler terms does offset the aura that the economists have pain-stakingly developed, but of course you always have DILBERT to prove your point.

Another Presentation which i came across explaning the situation in all of these African countries.