Profligacy

noun (uncountable)

/ˈprɒflɪɡəsi/

Reckless and extravagant expenditure, typically without regard to long-term consequences; in public finance, fiscal profligacy refers to a government's habit of spending well beyond its revenues, accumulating debt, crowding out private investment, and stoking inflation. Finance Ministers' Budget speeches frequently invoke the danger of fiscal profligacy when defending deficit-reduction targets, as Nirmala Sitharaman did in rationalising the 4.4% fiscal deficit target for 2025-26.

✍️ Usage in a UPSC answer

Critics of the 2009–14 UPA government's fiscal record argued that persistent revenue-account deficits and subsidy-driven profligacy had stored up an inflationary debt burden that constrained the subsequent government's room for productive capital spending.

Synonyms

extravaganceimprovidencewastefulnessfiscal recklessnessdissipation

Antonyms

fiscal prudenceausteritythriftparsimonyrestraint

🌱 Word Family

profligate (adjective/noun), profligately (adverb)

🔡 Root

Latin profligatus = ruined, dissolute, past participle of profligare = to strike down, ruin; pro- = forth + fligare = to strike

📜 Etymology

Derived from the Latin profligare (to ruin or destroy), the word entered English in the 17th century via the adjective 'profligate' (morally abandoned), and the abstract noun 'profligacy' followed by the 18th century. Its application to fiscal or economic behaviour — spending without restraint — is a 20th-century development, carrying the original moral censure of ruin into the domain of public finance.

🧠 Memory Hook

PRO-FLIGACY sounds like 'profuse flagrancy' — flagrantly spending in excess. Think of a king who lavishly throws gold coins into the crowd (profuse + flagrant waste). The 'flig' root means 'to strike down' — profligacy strikes down fiscal health.

💰 Indian Economy 📖 Seen in: Indian Economy — Growth, Planning & De...

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