7 radical ideas emerging to build a more resilient economy
- “De-Growth”: The obsession with GDP as the supreme goal of progress has been challenged often- Goals for human progress must be reset.
- “Sufficient boundaries”: Boundaries impede flows of trade, finance, and people- removing boundaries is good for global growth. However, since countries are at different stages of economic development, and have different compositions of resources, they must follow different paths to progress. COVID-19 has given another reason to maintain sufficient boundaries.
- “Government is good”: Even Capitalist corporations are lining up for government bailouts.
- “Market is not the best solution”: The “marketization” of economies has contributed to the increasing inequalities in wealth.
- “Citizen welfare, not consumer welfare”: In economies, human beings are consumers and producers. In societies, they are citizens.Citizens’ needs cannot be fulfilled merely by enabling them to consume more goods and services.
- “Competition must be restrained”: Collaboration is essential for progress.Further progress, to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals for example, will require collaboration.
- “Intellectual property belongs to the public”: Intellectual property monopolies are producing enormous wealth for their owners, though many were developed on the back of huge public investments. Moreover, powerful technologies can be used for benign or malign purposes.
-Source: The Hindu