Economic transparency

Systems that govern economic transactions can be inherently opaque. While there is an expectation of transparency, the reality can be quite different, and the consequences of a lack of transparency can be significant. There is a cultural tendency to preserve the lack of transparency in economic transactions, and this is something that appears to be an inheritance of the pre-21st century political economy. For example, there is a tendency in the language of contractual laws to allow opportunities for the contravention of transparency obligations. This language is ingrained in the discourse of the professionals who manage these systems. The values attached to secrecy around economic transactions pervade the systems and create a culture where transparency is deemed to be something that needs to be 'managed'. For novices - people who have not properly interacted with these systems before - the sudden realisation that there are so many hitherto unknown nuances to transactions, which may only become apparent after the transaction is over, can be alarming and difficult to come to terms with. One is led to wonder, for the generations of people who have been part of these systems and governed these systems, and who presumably understand these nuances well, was there never a desire to improve the situation for future generations?