Stiglitz on globalization, why(,) globalization fails ?

00:48:28
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sV7bRLtDr3E

Summary

TLDRThe video presents an analysis of the changing perspectives on globalization over the past 15 years. Initially embraced by both developed and developing countries, globalization promised economic benefits for all. However, it soon faced backlash as many poorer countries ended up worse off, contrary to expectations. The speaker, drawing from economic studies, highlights the asymmetrical way globalization was implemented, benefiting industrialized nations more. Key failures cited include increased global economic instability and insufficient reciprocation in removing trade barriers by developed nations, particularly in agriculture. Examples of successful adjustment to globalization include China and India's strategic management. In contrast, Latin American countries faced significant challenges under the Washington Consensus. The speaker underscores the importance of a balanced intellectual property regime and criticizes the strong influence of corporate and special interests over global policies. Political globalization has not matched economic integration, leading to dissatisfaction and a need for more cooperative global regulation. Concepts such as the 'democratic deficit' are discussed, where decision-making in international institutions disproportionately favors wealthier nations and corporations. Environmental and social considerations are often overlooked, further fueling discontent with how globalization is managed.

Takeaways

  • 🌍 Globalization initially promised universal benefits but failed to deliver for poorer nations.
  • πŸ“‰ Poor management and unequal benefits cause widespread opposition to globalization.
  • πŸ‡¨πŸ‡³ China and India are examples of successfully managed globalization.
  • πŸ’Ό Corporate interests often dominate, undermining broader social and economic goals.
  • 🌾 Agricultural subsidies in developed countries distort global markets.
  • 🧬 Strong intellectual property rights limit access to essential medicines.
  • πŸ”„ Developing countries face challenges with non-tariff barriers from developed nations.
  • βš–οΈ Economic globalization outpaced political governance, creating issues.
  • πŸ›οΈ Global institutions often reflect wealthier nations' interests, neglecting broader needs.
  • 🌿 Environmental and social considerations are pivotal in managing globalization effectively.

Timeline

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    Debates over globalization have evolved over 15 years. Initially, it was believed that globalization would benefit both developed and developing countries. However, a global movement against globalization has emerged due to adverse effects on poorer countries. Studies revealed that post-1994 trade agreements worsened conditions for many developing countries, as developed countries didn't reciprocate market openness, particularly affecting agriculture. The debate now focuses on how globalization can be made to work for all.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:10:00

    A key failure of globalization is that, instead of bringing stability, economic integration led to instability due to policies like capital market liberalization. Trade liberalization also failed, leaving poorer nations worse off. However, some countries like China and India benefited by managing globalization to suit their needs. Latin America, adhering to the Washington Consensus policies, saw disappointing growth and high poverty, contrasting China's success in poverty reduction by managing globalization effectively.

  • 00:10:00 - 00:15:00

    Economic globalization, typically emphasized, needs proper management to ensure benefits. China and East Asia effectively managed the process, focusing on strategic foreign investments while avoiding destabilizing capital flows, resulting in immense growth and poverty reduction. Latin America faced failures due to rigid adherence to globalization policies by institutions like the IMF. Globalization's success hinges on strategic and well-sequenced management.

  • 00:15:00 - 00:20:00

    Non-economic facets of globalization like idea exchange, democracy, and human rights also spread. However, economic globalization often interferes with these benefits. Strengthened intellectual property rights during trade negotiations hindered access to affordable medicines in developing countries, causing preventable deaths. This represents economic considerations eclipsing vital human needs, highlighting how globalization's potential for good is often overshadowed by adverse management.

  • 00:20:00 - 00:25:00

    Globalization's failure chiefly stems from economic forces outpacing political frameworks globally. As nations integrate closer, acting cooperatively becomes essential. Yet, political processes lag, leading to a democratic deficit where global decisions fail to represent all citizens. This deficit favors corporate and special interests over ordinary citizens, affecting both developed and developing nations.

  • 00:25:00 - 00:30:00

    Agricultural subsidies in developed countries depress global prices, hurting farmers in poorer nations. Subsidies benefit a small fraction of large-scale farmers but burden taxpayers immensely. Trade barriers like phytosanitary rules often protect domestic markets under the guise of safety, impeding developing nations' exports. This dynamic fuels corporate interests globally at the expense of general populace welfare, highlighting a democratic deficit in global trade policies.

  • 00:30:00 - 00:35:00

    Global organizations like the IMF and WTO demonstrate democratic deficits by prioritizing wealthy nations' interests. Voting rights are disproportionately based on economic stature, neglecting populous growing economies. Leadership often reflects financial markets' interests, emphasized on controlling inflation over growth and jobs. The pharmaceutical industry's influence resulted in strengthened intellectual property norms in treaties, restraining scientific and medicative advancements.

  • 00:35:00 - 00:40:00

    Failures in globalized governance examples include the imposed privatization of social security in developing countries, leading to national financial instability. Policies shaped by few interest-focused officials undermine democracy within these countries. A balanced domestic debate includes diverse voices leading to beneficial policies, contrasting with international settings dominated by corporations' narrow interests. Such dynamics skew public welfare negatively.

  • 00:40:00 - 00:48:28

    A cohesive global governance framework is missing to balance market economy demands globally. Environmental and labor regulations, necessary domestically, lack international equivalents, leading to errors like prioritizing pollution rights over environmental health. Democratically, countries incorporate diverse inputs; internationally, corporations dominate, pushing policies that favor their profits over societal welfare. NAFTA exemplifies this issue where trade treaties favored investments over public values.

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Mind Map

Video Q&A

  • How has globalization affected developing countries?

    Globalization was expected to benefit developing countries, but many have been negatively impacted due to unequal benefits and managed policies, particularly in agriculture.

  • Why is there opposition to globalization?

    Opposition to globalization arises from its failures to benefit the poorest nations as expected, resulting in global movements against it.

  • What regions have succeeded or failed with globalization?

    East Asia, including China and India, succeeded due to effective management, while Latin America struggled under the Washington Consensus.

  • What is economic and political globalization?

    Economic globalization involves market integration and trade, while political globalization refers to political structures and regulations needed to manage global integration effectively.

  • Why has globalization not lived up to its promises?

    Failures in globalization stem from poor management, unequal benefits, and domination by corporate interests, affecting economic and social stability in many countries.

  • What impact does globalization have on agricultural subsidies?

    In the US and Europe, subsidies benefit a small number of farmers, damaging international markets and local farmers in developing regions.

  • How does globalization impact intellectual property rights?

    Intellectual property regimes, driven by corporate interests, often limit access to generic medicines in developing countries, impacting public health.

  • What role do corporations play in globalization?

    Corporations often dominate globalization's agenda, focusing on their interests, which can undermine social and economic well-being globally.

  • What are "non-tariff barriers" in globalization?

    Non-tariff barriers, like regulatory standards or conditions, are used by developed nations to restrict imports from developing countries, impacting trade balance.

  • How did China and India manage globalization effectively?

    China and India regulated foreign investment and capital flows carefully, avoiding destabilizing short-term capital flows while benefiting from direct investments.

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  • 00:00:00
    I've been involved in the debates the
  • 00:00:02
    global debates over globalization now
  • 00:00:04
    for a decade and a half uh an important
  • 00:00:09
    interesting question is how those
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    debates have changed in that span of
  • 00:00:13
    time the beginning of the
  • 00:00:17
    90s there was enormous support for
  • 00:00:19
    globalization belief that everybody both
  • 00:00:22
    in the developed and less developed
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    countries would benefit uh the poorest
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    would benefit and the richest would
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    benefit then globalization has United
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    the world but against
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    it uh in fact one of the most important
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    Global movements has been the global
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    movement against
  • 00:00:44
    globalization uh a global so Civil
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    Society movement involving hundreds of
  • 00:00:49
    thousands of people all over the
  • 00:00:51
    world question of those who believe that
  • 00:00:54
    globalization would work is why why has
  • 00:00:58
    globalization generated such
  • 00:01:01
    antipathy from both the developed and
  • 00:01:03
    the less developed countries when both
  • 00:01:05
    were supposed to
  • 00:01:07
    benefit some people think it's a problem
  • 00:01:10
    of
  • 00:01:10
    Psychiatry the problem is that people
  • 00:01:12
    are better off but they just don't know
  • 00:01:14
    it and you then have to send a
  • 00:01:16
    psychiatrist to make them realize that
  • 00:01:18
    they are
  • 00:01:18
    happier but in fact as we did economic
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    studies at the World Bank and elsewhere
  • 00:01:25
    after the end of the last round of trade
  • 00:01:28
    negotiations the Orr round that was
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    completed in
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    1994 we
  • 00:01:35
    realized
  • 00:01:37
    that many of the poorest countries of
  • 00:01:39
    the world were actually made worse off
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    it wasn't just that they got a smaller
  • 00:01:44
    share of the gangs everybody expected
  • 00:01:47
    the United States and the Europe to get
  • 00:01:49
    the largest share of the gains but what
  • 00:01:52
    actually happened is that the poorest
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    countries in the world were worse off
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    and that was because of the asymmetric
  • 00:02:00
    way in which globalization had
  • 00:02:02
    proceeded the advanced industrial
  • 00:02:04
    countries demanded that the poorest
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    countries open up their Mars eliminate
  • 00:02:09
    their subsidies but the advanced
  • 00:02:11
    industrial countries did not fully
  • 00:02:14
    reciprocate in particular in the area
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    which is of most important to developing
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    countries agriculture where 70% of the
  • 00:02:21
    people live directly or indirectly off
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    of
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    Agriculture Europe the United States
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    Japan kept their enormous subsidies kept
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    their markets closed and the result of
  • 00:02:33
    this was to lower the income of the
  • 00:02:35
    poorest people in the
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    world the question then is where is the
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    globalization debate going today we
  • 00:02:45
    actually do know that the way it has
  • 00:02:47
    been managed in the past has left the
  • 00:02:50
    poorest worse
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    off and I think that constitutes the
  • 00:02:56
    biggest change in the debate over
  • 00:02:58
    globalization
  • 00:03:00
    we now realize that not everybody will
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    automatically
  • 00:03:04
    benefit that globalization is a powerful
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    force it can lift the well-being improve
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    the living standards of those in both
  • 00:03:15
    the advanced developed industrial
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    countries and the poorest countries but
  • 00:03:20
    it hasn't been doing that and so the
  • 00:03:22
    challenge today is to make globalization
  • 00:03:27
    work how do we make it work
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    but to understand that we have to
  • 00:03:32
    understand some of the reasons and some
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    of the ways in which
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    globalization has not lived up to its
  • 00:03:41
    promise well if I were asked what are
  • 00:03:43
    the major failures of globalization what
  • 00:03:46
    are the major ways in which it has not
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    lived up to its
  • 00:03:50
    promise there is actually a long
  • 00:03:53
    list one could begin as I say by talking
  • 00:03:56
    about where it is not lived up to its
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    promise it was was supposed to bring
  • 00:04:02
    increased living standards everywhere in
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    the world in fact some of the poorest
  • 00:04:07
    people in the poorest countries have
  • 00:04:08
    been made worse
  • 00:04:10
    off at one time Advocates of
  • 00:04:14
    globalization believe that economic
  • 00:04:17
    integration Financial Market
  • 00:04:19
    integration would lead to Greater
  • 00:04:22
    stability greater economic global
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    economic
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    stability the IMF
  • 00:04:30
    almost forced many of the countries of
  • 00:04:33
    the world to take away their
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    restrictions on short-term capital flows
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    opening up markets to destabilizing
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    Capital flows arguing that it would lead
  • 00:04:44
    to Greater global economic
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    stability or they were
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    wrong
  • 00:04:51
    and the global markets global economy
  • 00:04:55
    has experienced enormous instability in
  • 00:04:58
    in recent years
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    and part of the
  • 00:05:03
    reason is that the policies like Capital
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    Market
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    liberalization have been pushed too
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    far in ways without the appropriate
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    safeguards that have actually
  • 00:05:16
    contributed to instability so this is an
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    example where the promise was greater
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    stability the consequences have been
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    greater
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    instability the same thing as I said
  • 00:05:30
    before it was true about trade
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    liberalization it was supposed to
  • 00:05:33
    promote the well-being of all the
  • 00:05:35
    countries but in fact the poorest
  • 00:05:37
    countries of the world have been left
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    less well
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    off now globalization has many
  • 00:05:45
    dimensions and not just
  • 00:05:48
    economics uh economic de globalization
  • 00:05:51
    is the part that we we often focus on
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    and economic globalization has resulted
  • 00:05:58
    in enormous benefits to a few countries
  • 00:06:01
    in the world to China to India we've
  • 00:06:06
    experienced enormous economic
  • 00:06:09
    growth China has been growing for the
  • 00:06:11
    last 30 years at over 9 and a half% a
  • 00:06:16
    year India has been growing for the last
  • 00:06:18
    quarter Century at over 5% of the year
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    and this year it's expected to grow at
  • 00:06:22
    close to
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    8% and though that growth has largely
  • 00:06:28
    been based on globalization on
  • 00:06:31
    exports but what these countries have
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    done has been they've learned how to
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    manage globalization for their own
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    benefit for instance they did not open
  • 00:06:40
    up their Capital markets to
  • 00:06:41
    destabilizing Capital flows and yet they
  • 00:06:45
    they were able to get large amounts of
  • 00:06:48
    foreign direct investment China has been
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    the largest recipient of foreign direct
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    investment of all any of the developing
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    countries so they were very careful in
  • 00:06:57
    the way they managed globalization so
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    they were able to to take advantage of
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    the benefits without paying the
  • 00:07:05
    cost the region of the world which most
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    succumbed to the dictates of the
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    globalization as it was managed by the
  • 00:07:14
    Washington International institutions
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    the IMF the World Bank was Latin America
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    there was a set of policies called the
  • 00:07:22
    Washington consensus policies that
  • 00:07:25
    involve minimizing the role of
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    government privatization liberal
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    ization focusing on inflation not
  • 00:07:33
    worrying about growth not worrying about
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    unemployment and in fact the result of
  • 00:07:39
    this is has been that the growth has
  • 00:07:42
    been very disappointing growth in the
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    90s the first decade of the Washington
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    consensus policies in Latin
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    America was just over half of what had
  • 00:07:53
    been in earlier Decades of the 50s 60s
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    and
  • 00:07:56
    70s poverty has remained at a high
  • 00:08:01
    level in contrast to China where they
  • 00:08:05
    manage globalization correctly and
  • 00:08:09
    poverty has been reduced by hundreds of
  • 00:08:11
    millions of people uh probably in
  • 00:08:14
    history no no there's been no period in
  • 00:08:17
    which so many people have been moved out
  • 00:08:19
    of poverty so so rapidly uh more than
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    300 million people uh in the span of 20
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    years more people that live in the
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    United States uh uh have moved out of
  • 00:08:30
    poverty uh in that short expand of
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    time
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    so Latin America in some sense
  • 00:08:39
    represents the failure of globalization
  • 00:08:42
    when it's not well-managed East Asia
  • 00:08:44
    represents the success of globalization
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    when it is well-managed
  • 00:08:49
    so first China and the other East Asian
  • 00:08:53
    countries took a very comprehensive
  • 00:08:54
    approach to development secondly they
  • 00:08:57
    are very balanced approach making sure
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    the jobs got created as Jobs got
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    destroyed and understanding the many
  • 00:09:04
    dimensions to these strategies the third
  • 00:09:06
    thing they did was they were very picky
  • 00:09:10
    about what aspects of
  • 00:09:13
    globalization were important and how to
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    sequence it so for instance they opened
  • 00:09:20
    up China opened up itself for foreign
  • 00:09:22
    direct
  • 00:09:24
    investment but did not open itself up to
  • 00:09:27
    short-term spective capital flows
  • 00:09:29
    because they said we're not ready for it
  • 00:09:31
    those flows are
  • 00:09:33
    destabilizing and they were right so
  • 00:09:36
    they got the foreign direct investment
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    which helped their economy grow but they
  • 00:09:40
    didn't have to pay the price of the
  • 00:09:42
    destabilizing short-term capital
  • 00:09:45
    flows so they managed International
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    globalization in a way to shape it for
  • 00:09:51
    their own Advantage but as I said
  • 00:09:54
    there's more to globalization than just
  • 00:09:55
    economic
  • 00:09:57
    globalization globalization inv involves
  • 00:10:00
    the
  • 00:10:01
    movement well as well of ideas knowledge
  • 00:10:05
    across borders ideas about democracy
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    human rights those have spread around
  • 00:10:11
    the world knowledge about how to extend
  • 00:10:14
    life expectancy greater improved Health
  • 00:10:18
    has also led to an increase in life
  • 00:10:21
    living uh life expectancy uh in both
  • 00:10:25
    Advanced industrial countries and the uh
  • 00:10:27
    developing world
  • 00:10:31
    the sad point is that too often economic
  • 00:10:34
    globalization has interfered with the
  • 00:10:37
    benefits of the kinds of globalization
  • 00:10:39
    all these other benefits for
  • 00:10:42
    instance one of the things that happened
  • 00:10:44
    in the last round of the trade
  • 00:10:47
    negotiations was that there was
  • 00:10:50
    strengthening intellectual property
  • 00:10:53
    intellectual property or C patents
  • 00:10:55
    copyrights important to provide
  • 00:10:58
    incentives for innovators writers
  • 00:11:00
    creative people to to engage in their
  • 00:11:03
    creative activity everybody recognizes
  • 00:11:07
    the importance of intellectual
  • 00:11:09
    property but one has to get a balanced
  • 00:11:11
    intellectual property regime that
  • 00:11:14
    recognizes the rights the
  • 00:11:18
    benefits and the costs the rights and
  • 00:11:21
    benefits to users to
  • 00:11:25
    researchers um the cost that a that can
  • 00:11:29
    result from Monopoly that is often
  • 00:11:32
    associated with excessively strong
  • 00:11:34
    intellectual property
  • 00:11:36
    rights one of the consequences of the
  • 00:11:39
    intellectual property provision of the
  • 00:11:41
    or gray real which is called
  • 00:11:43
    trips was that it made it more difficult
  • 00:11:48
    for those in developing countries to
  • 00:11:50
    have access to generic
  • 00:11:52
    medicines and the result of that was
  • 00:11:55
    that the price of medicines Rose
  • 00:11:57
    enormously in effect when they signed
  • 00:12:00
    the agreement on the orra round in
  • 00:12:04
    maresh in
  • 00:12:06
    1994 they were signing the death
  • 00:12:08
    warrants for hundreds of thousands of
  • 00:12:10
    people in subsaharan Africa and the rest
  • 00:12:13
    of the developing countries because at
  • 00:12:15
    the higher prices that resulted from
  • 00:12:19
    those provision the fact that generic
  • 00:12:20
    medicines would not be available most of
  • 00:12:23
    the people in those countries would not
  • 00:12:25
    be able to afford life-saving medicines
  • 00:12:28
    for instance for a
  • 00:12:29
    just to to give you a a picture of the
  • 00:12:32
    magnitude of what we're talking
  • 00:12:34
    about a
  • 00:12:37
    years worth of prescriptions for eggs
  • 00:12:42
    medicines in the United States cost
  • 00:12:44
    around
  • 00:12:45
    $10,000 it cost under $300 to produce
  • 00:12:48
    these medicines generic producers can
  • 00:12:50
    make them available for under
  • 00:12:54
    $300 and yet under the intellectual
  • 00:12:57
    property provisions
  • 00:13:00
    where producers in South Africa and
  • 00:13:03
    Brazil could not make them available at
  • 00:13:05
    these costs at $110,000 people living on
  • 00:13:10
    $500 a year cannot cannot afford those
  • 00:13:15
    prices that's an example of where
  • 00:13:19
    globalization has failed it has put
  • 00:13:23
    economic values the profits of
  • 00:13:27
    multinational pharmaceutical compan
  • 00:13:28
    companies above the
  • 00:13:31
    interest of the other values including
  • 00:13:34
    the value of life itself and that's just
  • 00:13:36
    one example of values which which have
  • 00:13:40
    been given short shrift in the
  • 00:13:43
    globalization debate the environment has
  • 00:13:47
    often been
  • 00:13:50
    destroyed I believe that if we shape we
  • 00:13:53
    make globalization work in the right way
  • 00:13:55
    we can actually make it a force for
  • 00:13:57
    preserving the environment
  • 00:14:00
    but the way it's often been managed in
  • 00:14:02
    the past it has led to the destruction
  • 00:14:04
    of the
  • 00:14:06
    environment so these are some of the
  • 00:14:08
    examples some of the ways some of the
  • 00:14:10
    reasons that there is is discontent such
  • 00:14:14
    discontent with
  • 00:14:16
    globalization yes it has the power to
  • 00:14:19
    produce enormous benefits to raise
  • 00:14:22
    living standards to provide
  • 00:14:25
    medicines but too often it has not lived
  • 00:14:28
    up to to those to those promises it's
  • 00:14:30
    not produced growth it's not produced
  • 00:14:32
    stability it's not reduced poverty in
  • 00:14:34
    many countries of the world uh and it
  • 00:14:37
    has put in Jeopardy other
  • 00:14:40
    values that are of enormous
  • 00:14:44
    consequence now that leads to the
  • 00:14:45
    Natural
  • 00:14:48
    question why is globalization
  • 00:14:52
    failed it is enormous po potential
  • 00:14:56
    benefit but so often it's not lived up
  • 00:14:58
    to that
  • 00:15:00
    potential and in my mind there is a
  • 00:15:04
    single reason and that is that economic
  • 00:15:08
    globalization has outpaced political
  • 00:15:11
    globalization
  • 00:15:13
    globalization means the closer
  • 00:15:16
    integration of the countries of the
  • 00:15:17
    world there's been a lowering of
  • 00:15:19
    Transportation cost of of communication
  • 00:15:23
    costs elimination of many of the
  • 00:15:24
    man-made barriers to movements of goods
  • 00:15:26
    and services capital
  • 00:15:29
    even labor in some cases across
  • 00:15:32
    boundaries but the that closer
  • 00:15:36
    integration means that we're more
  • 00:15:40
    interdependent when we're more
  • 00:15:42
    interdependent we need to act together
  • 00:15:45
    we need to act
  • 00:15:47
    cooperatively 150 years
  • 00:15:50
    ago a similar process was in play the
  • 00:15:54
    formation of the nation state
  • 00:15:56
    Transportation costs coming down
  • 00:15:59
    communication costs were coming down uh
  • 00:16:02
    and National units were being
  • 00:16:06
    created but then we have the the nation
  • 00:16:10
    state that could regulate that could
  • 00:16:13
    make nation building work to make sure
  • 00:16:16
    that these enormous economic forces work
  • 00:16:19
    to the benefit of all the citizens of
  • 00:16:22
    the
  • 00:16:23
    country today we don't have that kind of
  • 00:16:27
    overarching political
  • 00:16:30
    process we have in a way a
  • 00:16:34
    a forms of of political interaction that
  • 00:16:39
    are very
  • 00:16:41
    flawed and the result of this is that
  • 00:16:44
    there is a democratic
  • 00:16:46
    deficit a democratic deficit at the
  • 00:16:48
    global
  • 00:16:49
    level and that means the decisions that
  • 00:16:52
    are made at the global level do not
  • 00:16:54
    reflect the well the interest the
  • 00:16:56
    well-being of all the citizens of the
  • 00:16:59
    world tooo often this this Democratic
  • 00:17:03
    deficit results in the interest
  • 00:17:06
    well-being of corporate corporations
  • 00:17:10
    special interest dominating over those
  • 00:17:13
    of ordinary citizens all over the world
  • 00:17:16
    in fact it's not just a matter of the
  • 00:17:20
    developing countries versus the
  • 00:17:21
    developed
  • 00:17:23
    countries quite often the citizens of
  • 00:17:25
    the developed countries suffer as well
  • 00:17:28
    it is really a question of special
  • 00:17:30
    interest and corporate interest against
  • 00:17:32
    the well-being of citizens all over the
  • 00:17:34
    world I mentioned for instance before
  • 00:17:38
    the importance of of
  • 00:17:42
    uh
  • 00:17:43
    agricultural uh subsidies and the way
  • 00:17:46
    that they depressed prices uh the
  • 00:17:49
    farmers all over the world developing
  • 00:17:52
    countries
  • 00:17:54
    receive those subsidies cost taxpayers
  • 00:17:57
    and the develop countries enormous
  • 00:17:59
    amounts of money hundreds of millions of
  • 00:18:01
    dollar billions of dollars every
  • 00:18:04
    year so the citizens of these countries
  • 00:18:08
    are are paying an enormous price to
  • 00:18:11
    benefit a very small
  • 00:18:14
    number uh very small number of
  • 00:18:17
    corporations in the United States the
  • 00:18:20
    benefits of these huge
  • 00:18:22
    subsidies go to a relatively small
  • 00:18:26
    fraction of the farmers
  • 00:18:28
    only 2% of Americans actually work in
  • 00:18:31
    farming but the fraction of those who
  • 00:18:34
    get the benefits are very small very
  • 00:18:37
    small fraction of the money goes to the
  • 00:18:40
    small farmer most of the money goes to
  • 00:18:43
    huge corporate Farmers for instance in
  • 00:18:45
    the area of cotton
  • 00:18:48
    25,000 very well-off American cotton
  • 00:18:51
    Farmers divide amongst themselves three
  • 00:18:54
    to four billion dollars a year and the
  • 00:18:57
    result of this is that depress the price
  • 00:18:59
    of
  • 00:18:59
    cotton damaging the livelihood of some
  • 00:19:03
    10 million poor subsistence Farm cotton
  • 00:19:08
    farmers in subsaharan
  • 00:19:10
    Africa I should make clear that that the
  • 00:19:13
    United States is not the only guilty
  • 00:19:15
    party in in terms of agricultural
  • 00:19:18
    subsidies the subsidies from Europe are
  • 00:19:20
    actually
  • 00:19:22
    larger than those of America uh Japan
  • 00:19:26
    all the BS industrial countries of
  • 00:19:28
    have have problems with
  • 00:19:30
    subsidies uh Europe complains that the
  • 00:19:33
    United States has actually doubled his
  • 00:19:36
    subsidies after the end of the workway
  • 00:19:38
    round when it promised to reduce the
  • 00:19:41
    United States complains that European
  • 00:19:44
    subsidies are so much
  • 00:19:46
    larger Europe complains that America
  • 00:19:50
    subsidies are focused on
  • 00:19:52
    producers production America complains
  • 00:19:55
    that Europe subsidizes exports
  • 00:19:59
    they spend almost enormous amount of
  • 00:20:02
    energies blaming each other they spent
  • 00:20:04
    that same time dealing with the problem
  • 00:20:07
    the world would be a lot better
  • 00:20:10
    off take the case of European cow which
  • 00:20:14
    has got an enormous amount of notoriety
  • 00:20:17
    the average cow in Europe today receives
  • 00:20:19
    a subsidy of close to $2 a
  • 00:20:22
    day that's the number that resonates
  • 00:20:24
    because the World Bank defines poverty
  • 00:20:28
    as living under $2 a
  • 00:20:31
    day 40% of the people in the world live
  • 00:20:35
    unless than $2 a day it is better to be
  • 00:20:39
    a c in Europe than to be than to be a
  • 00:20:42
    average person in the developing
  • 00:20:46
    world one of the reasons that NAFTA the
  • 00:20:49
    North American free trade agreement
  • 00:20:50
    between the United States and Mexico was
  • 00:20:52
    such a
  • 00:20:53
    failure did not live up to the
  • 00:20:57
    expectation
  • 00:20:58
    was that the poorest
  • 00:21:00
    people in Mexico were actually made poor
  • 00:21:05
    because the poorest people in Mexico
  • 00:21:07
    were the corn
  • 00:21:09
    Farmers e out of bear living producing
  • 00:21:12
    corn selling a little
  • 00:21:16
    bit the result of joining NAFTA joining
  • 00:21:21
    with the united stakes was that American
  • 00:21:24
    corn highly subsidized corn was allowed
  • 00:21:27
    into Mexico
  • 00:21:28
    and the price of corn fell by
  • 00:21:31
    50% obviously some people in the city
  • 00:21:34
    were better off but those who depended
  • 00:21:37
    for their livelihood on corn producing
  • 00:21:41
    corn were made much worse off and the
  • 00:21:43
    rural poverty as a result
  • 00:21:54
    increased 20 years ago when the current
  • 00:21:59
    ERA of
  • 00:22:00
    globalization
  • 00:22:01
    began there was a certain set of
  • 00:22:04
    Doctrine certain set of
  • 00:22:07
    beliefs the belief was that liberalizing
  • 00:22:11
    trade taking away trade barriers would
  • 00:22:14
    lead to more trade more trade would lead
  • 00:22:16
    to more growth more growth would lead
  • 00:22:18
    everybody to be better off both in
  • 00:22:20
    developed and less developed
  • 00:22:23
    countries each one of those hypotheses
  • 00:22:26
    assumptions has now been
  • 00:22:30
    questioned trade liberalization has not
  • 00:22:33
    led to more trade for many of the
  • 00:22:36
    developing countries or at least not
  • 00:22:38
    substantially more trade and the reason
  • 00:22:41
    is that there are a host of other
  • 00:22:44
    barriers and some of these
  • 00:22:46
    barriers are really so large that the
  • 00:22:50
    reduction of the
  • 00:22:52
    tariffs is
  • 00:22:54
    insignificant if you don't have porks
  • 00:22:58
    eliminating a tariff
  • 00:23:01
    doesn't doesn't allow you to
  • 00:23:03
    export if you don't have the roads to
  • 00:23:06
    bring your products to the market
  • 00:23:08
    eliminating tariffs doesn't allow you to
  • 00:23:14
    export if you don't have anything to
  • 00:23:17
    sell what are sometimes called Supply
  • 00:23:20
    constraints then
  • 00:23:22
    eliminating tariffs doesn't
  • 00:23:26
    help
  • 00:23:28
    moreover too often the Advan industrial
  • 00:23:31
    countries have been very
  • 00:23:33
    clever as they've reduced tariff
  • 00:23:35
    barriers they've increased non-tariff
  • 00:23:39
    barriers so for instance they have what
  • 00:23:43
    are a whole set of restrictions called
  • 00:23:45
    phytosanitary conditions a big word that
  • 00:23:48
    means restrictions that say you can't
  • 00:23:52
    sell certain foods certain uh plants uh
  • 00:23:56
    because they aren't aren't
  • 00:24:00
    safe if they were really designed if
  • 00:24:03
    they were really of course no if they
  • 00:24:05
    were really doing what they were
  • 00:24:06
    supposed to do that wouldn't be a source
  • 00:24:08
    of complaint but too often they are used
  • 00:24:11
    but as little other than a protectionist
  • 00:24:15
    device as an example
  • 00:24:18
    Brazil is not allowed to sell beef to
  • 00:24:22
    the United States because of fear of HOA
  • 00:24:26
    mouth disease now there are large areas
  • 00:24:29
    of Brazil that are certified free of the
  • 00:24:32
    disease and there is absolutely no
  • 00:24:35
    problem of there should be no problem of
  • 00:24:37
    taking beef from that area and exporting
  • 00:24:39
    it you can constantly monitor you can
  • 00:24:42
    see whether the beef has has been
  • 00:24:44
    exposed we have very strong safeguards
  • 00:24:47
    and yet the United States will not
  • 00:24:50
    allow the export of that if the one part
  • 00:24:54
    of Brazil were a separate country
  • 00:24:55
    there'd be no problem but you take take
  • 00:24:57
    a big country and it's a problem one one
  • 00:25:00
    part you can use that as an excuse to
  • 00:25:01
    say nothing from the whole country can
  • 00:25:03
    be
  • 00:25:05
    exported the United States tried to stop
  • 00:25:08
    the export of avocados from Mexico
  • 00:25:13
    saying that there were fruit
  • 00:25:15
    flies very very small fruit
  • 00:25:18
    flies Mexicans said you can't see them
  • 00:25:21
    he said that's the point that's why
  • 00:25:22
    they're so dangerous they're invisible
  • 00:25:24
    fruit
  • 00:25:26
    flies and then they said well you send
  • 00:25:28
    your inspectors down to Mexico we'll
  • 00:25:30
    allow your inspectors to go see if you
  • 00:25:32
    can find them on on the on the on the
  • 00:25:35
    plant they sent them down they couldn't
  • 00:25:37
    find them they said yes that's because
  • 00:25:39
    they're so
  • 00:25:40
    invisible finally they
  • 00:25:44
    proposed we only allow the Mexican said
  • 00:25:48
    just allow us to bring them into to to
  • 00:25:51
    to Boston in the middle of winter the
  • 00:25:55
    theory was that you would have a them in
  • 00:25:57
    the car of a plane you open up the cargo
  • 00:26:00
    door the cold New England air would
  • 00:26:03
    freeze any invisible fruit fly instantly
  • 00:26:06
    killing it no danger to the California
  • 00:26:09
    avocado producers again the United
  • 00:26:11
    States said
  • 00:26:14
    no I wondered why and then I figured out
  • 00:26:17
    the
  • 00:26:18
    reason there is one day in January when
  • 00:26:22
    Americans eat more avocados than in all
  • 00:26:24
    the rest of year put together on Super
  • 00:26:26
    Bowl Sunday when for four hours
  • 00:26:29
    Americans eat guac kamale the most
  • 00:26:31
    important ingredient of which is avocado
  • 00:26:33
    non-stop for four hours as they watch
  • 00:26:35
    this football game so that was why it
  • 00:26:39
    was so important to the California
  • 00:26:41
    avocado
  • 00:26:43
    Growers eventually there was talk of
  • 00:26:46
    maybe there were invisible fruit flies
  • 00:26:48
    in American corn and maybe Mexico might
  • 00:26:51
    stop the allowing American corn to go in
  • 00:26:55
    the United States into Mexico because of
  • 00:26:57
    these fruit flies and eventually an
  • 00:26:58
    agreement was reached but this
  • 00:27:00
    illustrates
  • 00:27:02
    how these phytosanitary conditions can
  • 00:27:05
    be used as a trade
  • 00:27:08
    barrier and a very effective one at that
  • 00:27:12
    billions of dollars of exports from the
  • 00:27:14
    developing countries are are kept out of
  • 00:27:18
    the advanced industrial countries
  • 00:27:19
    because of this the stories like this
  • 00:27:22
    can be told over and over again so in
  • 00:27:24
    many respects it's not a conflict
  • 00:27:26
    between the Advanced Industrial
  • 00:27:27
    countries and the developing countries
  • 00:27:29
    it's a conflict between corporate
  • 00:27:31
    interest special interest and the
  • 00:27:33
    well-being of people all over the
  • 00:27:35
    world well we can see this Democratic
  • 00:27:39
    deficit in a number of
  • 00:27:42
    ways one aspect of it is that the voting
  • 00:27:47
    rights in these International
  • 00:27:49
    institutions do not Accord in any way
  • 00:27:51
    with our commonly accepted principles of
  • 00:27:55
    of democracy
  • 00:27:59
    I know of no democracy where rich people
  • 00:28:02
    say like George Soros can get billions
  • 00:28:05
    of dollars or Bill Gates can get
  • 00:28:07
    billions of votes simply because they
  • 00:28:09
    have billions of
  • 00:28:10
    dollars uh we believe in the principle
  • 00:28:12
    of one person one vote and yet in the
  • 00:28:16
    IMF and the World Bank voting is impr
  • 00:28:20
    proportional to the wealth of the
  • 00:28:21
    country and not even the income of the
  • 00:28:24
    country as of today the income of the
  • 00:28:26
    country to a large extent at the end of
  • 00:28:28
    19 the World War II when these
  • 00:28:30
    institutions were created with some
  • 00:28:32
    adjustment since then so countries like
  • 00:28:34
    China which have been growing for 25 30
  • 00:28:37
    years are vastly underrepresented in the
  • 00:28:40
    voting rights that they
  • 00:28:43
    have that's only one of the problems
  • 00:28:46
    another problem is that
  • 00:28:50
    the those who represent the
  • 00:28:53
    country tend to come from particular
  • 00:28:56
    interest groups so for instance the IMF
  • 00:28:59
    makes decisions that affect every aspect
  • 00:29:02
    of society in the developing countries
  • 00:29:04
    they don't have a very big effect on on
  • 00:29:07
    the advanced industrial countries in the
  • 00:29:08
    United States and France and Britain but
  • 00:29:10
    in the developing countries they tend to
  • 00:29:13
    to Really shape every aspect every
  • 00:29:15
    aspect of economic
  • 00:29:17
    policy and
  • 00:29:19
    yet those the people who shape those
  • 00:29:22
    policies the governance the decision
  • 00:29:25
    makers are the finance ministers and the
  • 00:29:28
    Central Bank
  • 00:29:30
    Governors they quite naturally reflect
  • 00:29:33
    the interest and perspectives of
  • 00:29:35
    financial
  • 00:29:36
    markets they don't worry about jobs they
  • 00:29:39
    don't worry about a growth uh they worry
  • 00:29:42
    about inflation they worry about
  • 00:29:45
    inflation because when inflation goes up
  • 00:29:47
    the value of bonds goes down and so Bond
  • 00:29:50
    holders lose and so they reflect the
  • 00:29:53
    interest of bond holders more than of
  • 00:29:56
    society in general
  • 00:29:59
    they may think of themselves as doing
  • 00:30:01
    what is best for the
  • 00:30:03
    country but their mindset is very much
  • 00:30:08
    what is best for Wall Street is best for
  • 00:30:10
    the
  • 00:30:11
    country it's not it's not actually true
  • 00:30:15
    and and the result of that is the
  • 00:30:17
    policies that they have pushed have not
  • 00:30:19
    been in general best either for the
  • 00:30:23
    developing countries or for the
  • 00:30:24
    developed countries I mentioned a few
  • 00:30:26
    minutes ago
  • 00:30:28
    the fact that the IMF had pushed Capital
  • 00:30:31
    Market liberalization opening up markets
  • 00:30:33
    to the flow of speculative hot
  • 00:30:36
    speculative
  • 00:30:37
    money destabilizing countries leading to
  • 00:30:41
    Global Financial
  • 00:30:43
    instability well Wall Street made an
  • 00:30:45
    enormous amount of money they make money
  • 00:30:47
    when Capital Flows In they make money
  • 00:30:49
    when Capital flows out they make money
  • 00:30:51
    when there's restructuring when there's
  • 00:30:53
    a disaster they make money whatever it
  • 00:30:56
    comes out
  • 00:30:59
    but the rest of the
  • 00:31:00
    country rest of the developing countries
  • 00:31:03
    suffer so they mindset they focus on on
  • 00:31:07
    these policies which Wall Street thinks
  • 00:31:10
    of as
  • 00:31:11
    good for them and may be good for the
  • 00:31:15
    rest of the world but the evidence is
  • 00:31:18
    very strongly to the
  • 00:31:20
    contrary so that is an example of what
  • 00:31:25
    happens when you have special
  • 00:31:28
    interest at the critical role in
  • 00:31:30
    decision making the same thing goes in
  • 00:31:34
    the WTO the World Trade Organization
  • 00:31:37
    where the important agreements defining
  • 00:31:40
    trade occur I talked about access to
  • 00:31:43
    life-saving
  • 00:31:45
    medicines that was uh part of the Oru
  • 00:31:49
    round
  • 00:31:50
    agreement the trade ministers do not
  • 00:31:53
    understand intellectual
  • 00:31:55
    property I know that for first time
  • 00:31:57
    because I was inside the White House at
  • 00:31:59
    the time that the were gray ground was
  • 00:32:01
    being
  • 00:32:02
    negotiated both the office of Science
  • 00:32:04
    and Technology policy and the Council of
  • 00:32:07
    economic advisors thought that the
  • 00:32:10
    intellectual property provision of the
  • 00:32:12
    orig gr round was bad we thought it was
  • 00:32:15
    bad for American Science we thought it
  • 00:32:17
    was bad for Global Science we thought it
  • 00:32:19
    was bad for developing
  • 00:32:21
    countries but our views were not what
  • 00:32:24
    won the
  • 00:32:25
    day it was the interest of the
  • 00:32:27
    pharmaceutical industry and the
  • 00:32:29
    entertainment industry whose view was
  • 00:32:32
    the stronger the intellectual property
  • 00:32:34
    rights the better we knew that wasn't
  • 00:32:37
    true we knew that excessively strong
  • 00:32:40
    intellectual property rights may not
  • 00:32:42
    only lower Welfare by reducing access to
  • 00:32:45
    life-saving Medicine may not only lower
  • 00:32:48
    welfare because of
  • 00:32:50
    monopolization but actually may result
  • 00:32:52
    in a slower pace of
  • 00:32:54
    innovation because the most important
  • 00:32:56
    input put into Innovation into research
  • 00:32:59
    is access to other ideas and if you make
  • 00:33:02
    those ideas less accessible by
  • 00:33:04
    excessively strong intellectual property
  • 00:33:06
    rights you'll actually slow the pace of
  • 00:33:11
    innovation the trade ministers don't
  • 00:33:14
    didn't understand this and the result
  • 00:33:17
    was this intellectual property provision
  • 00:33:20
    that that was so
  • 00:33:22
    unbalanced well that's the general
  • 00:33:25
    problem that you have the the decisions
  • 00:33:28
    being made basically by special interest
  • 00:33:31
    and this contrasts very strongly with
  • 00:33:33
    the way we make decisions within our own
  • 00:33:37
    democracies again I saw this firstand
  • 00:33:39
    within when I was in in the white house
  • 00:33:42
    where where we were involved in making
  • 00:33:45
    large numbers of very complicated
  • 00:33:47
    important decisions and the voices of
  • 00:33:49
    large numbers of different groups were
  • 00:33:51
    all at the table and we would argue we
  • 00:33:54
    would
  • 00:33:55
    fight some voices were heard louder than
  • 00:33:59
    others but every voice was
  • 00:34:01
    heard the result is you can see the
  • 00:34:04
    contrast in the results that are that
  • 00:34:07
    emerge for
  • 00:34:09
    instance at the
  • 00:34:11
    time one of the central pillars of the
  • 00:34:16
    Clinton Administration was increasing
  • 00:34:19
    access to health and we understood how
  • 00:34:23
    high drug prices reduced access to
  • 00:34:25
    health
  • 00:34:27
    so
  • 00:34:29
    domestically we were trying to improve
  • 00:34:32
    access to
  • 00:34:33
    health and the voice of the
  • 00:34:35
    pharmaceutical companies was heard but
  • 00:34:37
    only as one part of a number of other
  • 00:34:41
    voices where the concern was most
  • 00:34:43
    importantly the well-being of American
  • 00:34:46
    citizens but when we went
  • 00:34:49
    internationally those voices weren't
  • 00:34:51
    heard Only One Voice Was Heard and that
  • 00:34:54
    was the voice of the drug companies they
  • 00:34:56
    raised the price and they denied reduced
  • 00:34:58
    access to life-saving medicines let me
  • 00:35:01
    consider another
  • 00:35:03
    issue Social
  • 00:35:05
    Security OD H
  • 00:35:08
    pensions this has been one of the major
  • 00:35:10
    advances in all the uh many of the
  • 00:35:14
    countries of the world the provision of
  • 00:35:16
    of of insurance uh for elderly people so
  • 00:35:21
    they don't live in poverty it has been
  • 00:35:23
    the most important anti-poverty program
  • 00:35:26
    all over the world it used to be that
  • 00:35:28
    large fractions of the population over
  • 00:35:31
    65 lived in poverty today in the United
  • 00:35:34
    States relatively few people live in
  • 00:35:36
    poverty and it's because of Social
  • 00:35:38
    Security it has been a successful
  • 00:35:40
    program it is actually a very
  • 00:35:43
    efficiently run program the
  • 00:35:44
    administrative costs of the US Social
  • 00:35:47
    Security program are much lower than any
  • 00:35:50
    comparable private insurance
  • 00:35:52
    company it's very consumer responsive
  • 00:35:56
    we've done studies that looked at uh
  • 00:35:58
    consumer satisfaction how quickly do
  • 00:36:01
    consumer do do do they respond to
  • 00:36:04
    telephone inquiries how accurately and
  • 00:36:06
    they are among the most uh highly rated
  • 00:36:09
    of of any institution private or public
  • 00:36:13
    uh in
  • 00:36:15
    America the Clinton Administration very
  • 00:36:18
    strongly fought against privatization of
  • 00:36:21
    Social
  • 00:36:24
    Security the Bush Administration
  • 00:36:27
    tried to engage partial privatization of
  • 00:36:29
    Social
  • 00:36:31
    Security there was a democratic debate
  • 00:36:35
    and the result of that democratic debate
  • 00:36:36
    in the United States was a vast
  • 00:36:40
    overwhelming opposition to privatization
  • 00:36:42
    of Social
  • 00:36:44
    Security people realized that
  • 00:36:46
    privatization of these olda pension
  • 00:36:48
    would increase their insecurity they
  • 00:36:51
    would realize that would increase the
  • 00:36:52
    number of people in poverty they realize
  • 00:36:54
    it would increase transaction costs
  • 00:36:57
    Wall Street would benefit because they
  • 00:36:59
    would be Minister ad ministering these
  • 00:37:00
    funds and what is to the rest of
  • 00:37:03
    societies a cost is an income to Wall
  • 00:37:05
    Street so they were obviously very
  • 00:37:08
    strongly supportive but the rest of
  • 00:37:10
    America realized the cost were enormous
  • 00:37:12
    it would result in huge deficits
  • 00:37:14
    increase in the deficit in the United
  • 00:37:16
    States uh was estimated to re in the
  • 00:37:19
    first 10 years to be between1 and two
  • 00:37:22
    trillion
  • 00:37:23
    dollar and yet in the developing
  • 00:37:27
    countries the
  • 00:37:29
    IMF the US Treasury
  • 00:37:32
    pushed privatization of Social Security
  • 00:37:34
    and old age pensions the results were
  • 00:37:39
    disastrous for instance Argentina had a
  • 00:37:43
    crisis the beginning of this
  • 00:37:46
    decade many people blamed the huge
  • 00:37:49
    government deficit in fact the
  • 00:37:51
    government deficit was only 3% smaller
  • 00:37:54
    than the US deficit is today
  • 00:37:57
    but more
  • 00:37:58
    telling almost the entire deficit was a
  • 00:38:01
    result of privatization of Social
  • 00:38:03
    Security which the IMF had caused had
  • 00:38:06
    pushed so the problem in Argentina was
  • 00:38:11
    caused was
  • 00:38:12
    pushed by Outsiders by the privatization
  • 00:38:16
    of Social Security now this is an
  • 00:38:18
    example where had there been a
  • 00:38:20
    democratic
  • 00:38:22
    debate within
  • 00:38:25
    Argentina with all all the voices
  • 00:38:27
    understood all the voices heard there
  • 00:38:30
    might have
  • 00:38:32
    been a push back very high probability
  • 00:38:36
    would not have occurred but that's not
  • 00:38:38
    the what what occurred in Argentina and
  • 00:38:40
    many other countries what happened was
  • 00:38:42
    they were given as a condition of
  • 00:38:44
    getting a loan or condition of getting
  • 00:38:47
    assistance they were told you have to
  • 00:38:49
    privatize you have to privatize Social
  • 00:38:51
    Security undermining democracy within
  • 00:38:55
    these countries
  • 00:38:58
    so the what I'm trying to illustrate is
  • 00:39:02
    that in a wide range of
  • 00:39:05
    issues within our democracy we bring
  • 00:39:08
    various voices to the table and as these
  • 00:39:11
    various voices are brought to the table
  • 00:39:14
    we understand the pros and the cons all
  • 00:39:17
    public policy public policy issues are
  • 00:39:20
    complicated but as we debate them we
  • 00:39:23
    come out with answers that are often
  • 00:39:25
    different from the ansers of the special
  • 00:39:27
    interest groups to give you a third
  • 00:39:30
    example I talked about before how
  • 00:39:33
    financial markets Bond markets focus on
  • 00:39:36
    inflation most of workers Focus much
  • 00:39:40
    more on on on jobs obviously if you have
  • 00:39:42
    hyperinflation if inflation is going up
  • 00:39:44
    at 10 20% a month Society economy can't
  • 00:39:49
    function but that's not what we're
  • 00:39:51
    talking about we're talking about cases
  • 00:39:54
    where inflation is moderate and if that
  • 00:39:56
    level of moderate
  • 00:39:58
    inflation do you wor worry also about
  • 00:40:01
    employment do you also worry about
  • 00:40:04
    growth
  • 00:40:05
    America's federal reserve our our
  • 00:40:09
    Central Bank has a mandate that looks
  • 00:40:13
    not just in inflation but on growth and
  • 00:40:17
    employment and yet the
  • 00:40:20
    IMF has pushed countries around the
  • 00:40:23
    world to have central banks focused
  • 00:40:26
    only on
  • 00:40:28
    inflation the result of this of course
  • 00:40:30
    is that you wind up with maybe lower
  • 00:40:33
    inflation but much higher
  • 00:40:36
    unemployment one of the consequences in
  • 00:40:39
    Latin America which I cited before as
  • 00:40:41
    one of the examples of the failure of
  • 00:40:43
    these Washington consensus policies is
  • 00:40:46
    that unemployment has increased over the
  • 00:40:49
    last 15 years uh under the Washington
  • 00:40:53
    consensus
  • 00:40:55
    policies
  • 00:41:01
    when when the market economy
  • 00:41:05
    developed over the last 50 100 1502 200
  • 00:41:10
    years governments and the nation Stakes
  • 00:41:14
    found ways of tempering it found ways of
  • 00:41:17
    making the market work so not just
  • 00:41:20
    corporations but everybody would benefit
  • 00:41:23
    it they imposed environmental laws
  • 00:41:26
    because they recognized that without
  • 00:41:28
    those environmental laws firms had
  • 00:41:30
    incentives to
  • 00:41:32
    pollute why pay the cost of of
  • 00:41:36
    controlling your pollution if you can
  • 00:41:37
    just spew the air pollution into the air
  • 00:41:41
    or water pollution into this water the
  • 00:41:44
    result of this was that life
  • 00:41:46
    expectancies were adversely affected
  • 00:41:49
    people were worse off in fact in 19th
  • 00:41:52
    century England we have evidence that
  • 00:41:54
    overall the degradation of the
  • 00:41:55
    environment led to to uh people being
  • 00:41:59
    less healthy shorter it was really
  • 00:42:02
    terrible consequences of these earlier
  • 00:42:04
    days of the growth of the market
  • 00:42:08
    economy well since then we've learned
  • 00:42:10
    how to have government regulations that
  • 00:42:13
    control control of the environment we've
  • 00:42:16
    had government regulations that protect
  • 00:42:19
    workers provide for worker safety firms
  • 00:42:22
    on their own didn't do that we realized
  • 00:42:25
    also that government plays a very
  • 00:42:27
    important role in making the market
  • 00:42:32
    work for a market economy to work people
  • 00:42:35
    have to have confidence that when they
  • 00:42:37
    invest money in the stock market or when
  • 00:42:40
    they invest money in a put their money
  • 00:42:42
    in a bank the bank isn't going to go
  • 00:42:45
    bankrupt or the stock market money isn't
  • 00:42:47
    going to be
  • 00:42:48
    stolen and you need strong
  • 00:42:50
    regulations we've seen over and over
  • 00:42:53
    again those kinds of abuses that happen
  • 00:42:55
    without those regulations ations even
  • 00:42:57
    with the enormous number of regulations
  • 00:42:59
    that we had in the United States in the
  • 00:43:02
    1990s we had a whole raft of new forms
  • 00:43:06
    of abuses typified by Enron Arthur
  • 00:43:10
    Anderson where the accounting companies
  • 00:43:12
    were not providing the numbers the
  • 00:43:14
    information that needed to make a market
  • 00:43:16
    economy
  • 00:43:17
    work they were providing the information
  • 00:43:20
    to get the CEO pay up as much as they
  • 00:43:23
    could the result is that you had as
  • 00:43:25
    enormous increase in inequality CEO pay
  • 00:43:28
    skyrocketing getting people getting paid
  • 00:43:30
    not just Millions but in some cases
  • 00:43:32
    hundreds of millions of
  • 00:43:35
    dollars but when the company went bust
  • 00:43:39
    the rest of the shareholders were left
  • 00:43:40
    in the Lurch workers were left out
  • 00:43:43
    without jobs those who had invested in
  • 00:43:46
    in the retirement accounts were left
  • 00:43:48
    without retirement
  • 00:43:50
    accounts uh it
  • 00:43:52
    was enormous Co cost to society
  • 00:44:00
    without the confidence of strong
  • 00:44:03
    regulations people won't turn their
  • 00:44:05
    money over and capitalism can't work and
  • 00:44:08
    so we've recognized that there are many
  • 00:44:10
    roles that the government needs to play
  • 00:44:13
    to make the market economy work it needs
  • 00:44:18
    to protect the environment and protect
  • 00:44:20
    workers it needs to regulate the economy
  • 00:44:24
    to make sure that these abuses don't
  • 00:44:26
    don't
  • 00:44:27
    occur there are also important needs in
  • 00:44:29
    terms of
  • 00:44:31
    expenditures
  • 00:44:33
    airports roads most importantly basic
  • 00:44:36
    research education are all things that
  • 00:44:40
    the
  • 00:44:41
    government
  • 00:44:43
    provides that requires
  • 00:44:46
    taxes so government and markets today we
  • 00:44:50
    realize are partners and within our
  • 00:44:53
    democracies we've been exploring how to
  • 00:44:56
    to make this partnership
  • 00:44:58
    work but again internationally because
  • 00:45:02
    we don't because of this democ
  • 00:45:05
    Democratic deficit we haven't gotten the
  • 00:45:07
    balanced right we have to a too large
  • 00:45:11
    extent have the agenda set by
  • 00:45:14
    corporations by the special interest for
  • 00:45:17
    their own
  • 00:45:18
    interest I'm giving several examples let
  • 00:45:21
    me give you a couple more that highlight
  • 00:45:24
    the IM balance that has occurred between
  • 00:45:28
    the way we run democracies at home and
  • 00:45:32
    the way globalization has been managed
  • 00:45:36
    internationally I talked about the
  • 00:45:40
    environment one of the things that those
  • 00:45:45
    who anti-environmentalist have have have
  • 00:45:49
    consistently been pushing have been a
  • 00:45:52
    set
  • 00:45:53
    of provisions that would say whenever
  • 00:45:57
    you pass a
  • 00:45:59
    regulation you have to compensate firms
  • 00:46:02
    for the loss of profits so you pass a
  • 00:46:05
    regulation that says you can't plute
  • 00:46:08
    that obviously is going to lower the
  • 00:46:09
    profits of the company and you have to
  • 00:46:12
    pay the company for the loss of
  • 00:46:14
    profits the question is does the company
  • 00:46:16
    have the right to blute or do you
  • 00:46:20
    citizens of the world have the right to
  • 00:46:22
    clean air and what they were basically
  • 00:46:25
    saying
  • 00:46:26
    these anti- environmentalists is the
  • 00:46:28
    rights of Corporations predominate they
  • 00:46:31
    have the right to pollute and if you
  • 00:46:32
    take away that right you have to
  • 00:46:34
    compensate them well of course the
  • 00:46:36
    Clinton Administration most people most
  • 00:46:39
    courts have said that's
  • 00:46:41
    outrageous uh the right to clean air is
  • 00:46:44
    a right of every citizen and the
  • 00:46:46
    corporations do not own the
  • 00:46:49
    atmosphere and yet and yet when the
  • 00:46:53
    United States signed the North American
  • 00:46:55
    free trade trade
  • 00:46:56
    agreement it gave foreign investors more
  • 00:47:01
    rights than American investors did and
  • 00:47:03
    in Mexico American investors have more
  • 00:47:07
    rights than Mexican investors have in
  • 00:47:10
    Mexico the result of this been a
  • 00:47:12
    provision deliberately designed to
  • 00:47:15
    stifle environmental
  • 00:47:16
    regulation for instance in a small
  • 00:47:19
    village in
  • 00:47:21
    Mexico they decided to pass a regulation
  • 00:47:24
    saying you cannot have a toxic waste
  • 00:47:27
    dump in the middle of the
  • 00:47:30
    city any City would have a regulation
  • 00:47:32
    like that nobody wants to have a toxic
  • 00:47:35
    waste in the middle of the city
  • 00:47:36
    polluting their water
  • 00:47:38
    supply and yet under the North American
  • 00:47:42
    Free Trade
  • 00:47:43
    Agreement Mexican government was forced
  • 00:47:46
    to
  • 00:47:47
    compensate the owner of this land
  • 00:47:49
    because the land could not be used as a
  • 00:47:51
    toxic waste
  • 00:47:53
    dump and there are actually billions of
  • 00:47:55
    dollars of these suits right now under
  • 00:47:58
    file we don't know how many of them
  • 00:48:00
    would Prevail but this was the kind of
  • 00:48:03
    provision that was put in the North
  • 00:48:04
    American free trade
  • 00:48:06
    agreement if you would had a a vote on
  • 00:48:10
    this I believe that citizens in America
  • 00:48:13
    citizens in Mexico would have voted
  • 00:48:14
    against it just as if you put up the
  • 00:48:18
    issue should the poorest people in
  • 00:48:20
    Africa have Li access to life-saving
  • 00:48:23
    medicines eggs medicines if you put that
  • 00:48:26
    up to a vote
Tags
  • globalization
  • international trade
  • economic policies
  • developing countries
  • corporate influence
  • intellectual property
  • agricultural subsidies
  • political globalization
  • global markets
  • democratic deficit