Which is the Driver: Morality or the Economy?

Moral and economic collapse are, in fact, more like two sides of the same coin that feed into each other rather than a one-way cause-and-effect relationship. Both can trigger the other. Which one comes first varies depending on the society and the circumstances. The fundamental problem here is that recovering from moral collapse and economic collapse requires different timeframes and processes.

A price is paid for economic collapse; it is possible to recover in the short, medium, and long term—that is, in one year, five years, and ten years. However, recovering from moral collapse requires at least one generation, meaning a time span of thirty to fifty years. The weakening and deterioration of moral, cultural, human, and social values lead to all kinds of social degeneration.

If self-interest, opportunism, shamelessness, selfishness, power, and profit have replaced honesty, virtue, decency, sharing—in other words, justice—in a society, that society has begun to collapse. Moral and economic decay also bring corruption and degeneration with them. This situation leads to an increase in corruption and degeneration not only in society but also among civil servants who carry out public services. Thus, institutional moral erosion emerges. This causes state officials who have lost their way to abuse their public duties and power, using them for their personal advancement and interests.

Both corruption and degeneration are illegal, unjust, and harmful.

Economic collapse and moral collapse are two phenomena that feed each other. When the economy deteriorates, people enter a struggle for survival; unemployment and poverty increase, and the motivation to follow rules weakens. In this situation, corruption increases, crime rates rise, and the mentality of “every man for himself” spreads. This mentality erodes and rots moral values. As corruption increases, trust decreases. This causes a decline in investors, a drop in production, and a weakening of the economy for the country. Trust forms the foundation of the economy. If there is no trust, the economy cannot be sustainable.

The most critical point is this: Moral collapse ruins the economy, and a ruined economy further ruins morality. In our country, conditions such as high inflation, the decline in purchasing power, unemployment, and income inequality have been directly affecting people's daily lives for a long time, and this situation creates economic pressure. The economy cannot solve problems on its own. Therefore, trust must be built, and rules must be predictable. People should be able to say, “I will receive the reward for my labor.”

Problems in public administration that begin with corruption and end in degeneration appear before us as institutional moral collapse. Gang formation becomes inevitable with individuals who do not deserve the seat they occupy in the public sector, who use the institution for their own interests, and who neglect and abuse their duties. Increasing corruption in the public sector inevitably brings with it a moral collapse. This damages the trust between the citizen and the state.

The advanced stage of this situation is turmoil, chaos, and social discontent. This is exactly what is being experienced in our country today. Neither a society nor an economy that is not based on morality has a chance of survival.