w a wijewardena : scientific research – what researchers should do and should not keynote address by mr w a wijewardena, deputy governor of the central bank of sri lanka, at the 3rd international research conference, organized by the faculty of management & finance, university of colombo, colombo, 11 december 2008. the views expressed in this paper are those of the author and should not be construed as those of the central bank of sri lanka. * * * a master debater has once boasted that he normally employs three ploys to subdue his difficult customers. “ when i find that my opponent is not easily surmountable, i use mathematics, philosophy and religion to subdue him ”. he has confessed. “ mathematical equations frighten him, philosophical expressions confuse him and religious sayings make him feel guilty. after that, he is an easy prey for the final onslaught ”. he has further elaborated triumphantly. the superior property of mathematical equations in frightening intellectual opponents is not without precedent. an example in this connection has been presented by astro - physicist carl sagan in his broca ’ s brain ( p. 151 ). according to the story, the french encyclopaedist diderot, being an atheist himself, had challenged anyone to prove the existence of god during a visit to russian empress catherine ’ s court. when he became an embarrassment to everyone, euler, the master mathematician and also a temporary visitor to the court, is said to have accepted the challenge. euler has said, “ sir, ( a + bn ) / n = x, therefore god exists. disprove ”. the mathematics - phobic diderot, being unable to respond, is said to have fled the court! these examples suggest that people can sometimes use gimmicks to confuse opponents and win arguments. such winnings do not prove or disprove any proposition. they do not add knowledge to the extant body of knowledge. they simply help a crafty person to make a temporary escape from an existing difficult situation. scientific research is different from the employment of gimmicks to gain temporary winnings. it is the method of using human intellect to discover new knowledge and add that wisdom to the existing body of knowledge until it is disproved by a new discovery. hence, those who are engaged in scientific research have to conform to a set of accepted principles, guidelines and a code of ethics and morality. to follow such a set

has been the existence or the absence of the independence of the central bank. many have found fault with exter for making the secretary to the ministry of finance a member of the monetary board. they have argued that this official member with his own self interest in funding the government expenditure programs would use the opportunity to dictate terms to the monetary board, thereby permitting the fiscal policy to override monetary policy. it has been equated by some critics to the case of permitting a child to put his hand into the cookie jar as many times as he wishes. while these criticisms may have some validity, exter ’ s wisdom has been to create an environment for both the government and the central bank to have a peaceful and amicable cohabitation. exter has argued in his report that “... there are, however, many important problems of monetary policy, especially those relating to fiscal policy, on which a central bank should work in close harmony with the government ”. accordingly, a degree of independence has been afforded to the central bank unlike other governmental bodies. this independence extends to the budget of the central bank, job security of the key central bank officials, and power to make monetary policy without consulting the government. the wisdom of exter was that the central bank should as far as possible work in consultation with the government, rather than in isolation. he believed that the true independence of the central bank could be preserved only through that consultative method. in the words of exter, “ the ideal is … one in which there will be continuous and constructive co - operation between the monetary board and the government. the principal instrument for achieving this co - operation should be the permanent secretary to the ministry of finance whose membership on the board will ensure at all times that his minister ’ s views will be made known to the other members of the board ”. however, exter did not expect this arrangement to be effective at all times. hence, he made the proviso that “ it would depend on the men occupying the key positions ” and not on any legal formula. he argued quite correctly that such complex and delicate relationships cannot be established full - blown by a piece of legislation. it must be the result of years of experience and the slow growth of political conventions. the writer has been questioned on this point on many occasions at numerous public fora. the position taken by him agrees fully with that of exter. this position requires the critics to compare central bank ’ s independence with the relationship within