Monday, October 09, 2017

Let's go, people!

I went to graduate school because I thought that I would find answers to the pressing questions of development.  Within a couple of years, I realized that plenty of highly capable thinkers had already thought up everything that I was worried about.  If everything had already been discussed, then what the hell?

I started understanding that addressing the human condition was not really about finding technical solutions.  Instead, it came down to the power of persuasion and, ultimately, politics.  I would no longer be fooled by fancy-shmancy data-driven models.

Which is also when I seriously started thinking about persuading others through easy to understand approaches.  One of the big topics then was free trade, and NAFTA in this part of the world.  I did not oppose free trade, especially after my experiences in the socialist India.  But, my logic told me that freely moving goods and capital alone merely provides advantages to those who are better-off.  I wanted free movement of people also. 

I went to talk about this with one of the professors.  He disagreed with me.  He gave me the same old textbook argument of how the movement of capital will counter and complement the controls on movement of labor.  I was not convinced.  I wrote an essay and sent that to Economic and Political Weekly.  Of course it was not published--I bet that it was one horribly written essay, stylistically and content-wise.

Over the years, I have been more convinced than ever that globalization ought to include freer, if not completely free, movement of labor.  Yes, I know that this exactly what the fascist thug campaigned against and for which he was rewarded with 63 million votes.  But, hey, the fascist can and will bullshit and lie.  But, the truth cannot be simply tweeted away.

One of the best contemporary thinkers on the distributional aspects of globalization, Branko Milanovic, whom I have quoted before, writes this:
income gaps are unlikely to be eliminated. Which, in turn, shows the importance of migration.  If a borderless cosmopolitan world is to be achieved (an objective with which I agree but see enormous political difficulties in reaching it), migration is absolutely essential. But as economic migration faces increasing obstacles in rich countries (and, it has to be added, not solely because of xenophobia but for economic reasons as well), the ideal of a world “without injustice of birth” recedes.
Yes, the injustice of birth.  Click here if you need a refresher on that.

Milanovic concludes:
I am very sympathetic to the borderless world but to believe that it can be achieved through trade alone, and without significant migration, is unrealistic. And once we say “migration”, we immediately open the Pandora’s box that the most recent elections in Europe and the United States have shown is a reality, not an imagination. Thus, our new “intellectual revolution” should be rather to address the issue of migration and citizenship than free trade. Free trade alone cannot solve world’s problems.
We need to think about migration and citizenship in new ways.  And we need to be able to think about that while dealing with the fascist thug's tweets and rants channeling his narrow and nativist takes on migration and citizenship.  Eventually, in the long run, truth will prevail.  But then, we need to also keep in mind that wonderful line: In the long run we are all dead.

2 comments:

Ramesh said...

Of course, a "globalist" like me will completely endorse the position outlined in your post.

But see the problem in Europe (at least the UK). The sort of globalisation you have advocated is precisely what is there in Europe. And yet Britain chose the exit primarily on the immigration issue - not against brown skinned Indians but against white skinned & Christian Poles.We have a lot more "selling" and "convincing" to do. Yes , the UK has its own version of the fascist - Nigel Farage, an idiot of immense proportions- although these days he seems to be more found in the US than in the UK. Maybe that's what tilted the balance.

Lets pay Elon Musk a billion dollars and request him to put your own guy and the British guy on a one way ticket to Mars.

Sriram Khé said...

your comment on farage reminds me of an old joke, which I will re-purpose here:
When he comes to America, farage simultaneously increases the average IQ of the UK and the US ;)
(yes, I know I am dissing the US, but all in good humor)

Speaking of IQ, did you catch the news that the fascist wants an IQ competition with tillerson? What a freaking reality show that 63 million fucking idiots have created for us!!!

Anyway, yes, you have a point about the discrimination even against fellow-whites in the Brexit story. Responsible politicians and real "statesmen" have plenty of hard work ahead in terms of convincing people about the right things to do and counter the emotions that the populists tap into ... what a disaster!