Alex Tabarrok discusses the future of cooperation — that is, globalization — with the folks at TED.
His classical liberal stance is neither conservative nor progressive, which probably rubs both the wrong way:
What do you say to the argument that the Third World will not develop because we don’t have the natural resources to sustain the development?I utterly reject the view that the Third World is doomed to poverty and starvation. Not only is this wrong, I think this attitude verges on the immoral, like thinking that slavery is an unalterable facet of the human condition so why bother doing anything about it? Moreover, thinking of this kind — I call it the Lebensraum point of view — leads to war and destruction. The Lebensraum point of view, however, is rejected by evidence from the second half of the twentieth century. Peace and free trade are the routes to wealth — not a grab for “limited” resources.
I’m more inclined to say that peaceful free trade is one route to wealth — a route I endorse — but grabbing resources is another, less friendly, route.
I agree that the notion of natural resources is not as simple as it first appears:
“Natural resources” are not like a finite number of gifts under the Christmas tree. Nature is given but resources are created. Oil was around for millions of years before people realized it could power civilization. Who would have thought that an utterly common element like silicon would drive 21st century growth? Or that atoms could light homes? At any point in time, resources are limited but what counts as a resource changes over time. Perhaps in the future people will worry that we are running out of asteroids to mine! Of course, the ultimate “natural resource” is the power of the human mind, and more minds are going to come online in the 21st century than ever before.
Of course, the power of the human mind is highly variable, and bringing more minds online is helpful primarily because it means bringing a few more high-caliber minds online.
Tabarrok calls China “the world’s greatest anti-poverty program of the last few decades”:
With the death of Mao and the rise of Deng Xiao Ping, China began to grow at tremendous rates — 10 percent per year. Without any foreign aid to speak of, this “program” raised hundreds of millions of people out of the very worst kind of poverty. China in 1979 had among the highest poverty rates in the world. Its economic growth has brought several hundred million people from making less than a dollar a day out of that starvation-level poverty. Remember that, during the Great Leap Forward 30 to 40 million people starved in China.
Here’s his main point:
Economics does open your eyes to the fact that there is a massive amount of cooperation in the world. If you walk into a supermarket, you see grapes from Chile, apricots from Turkey, dates from India. All of these people from around the world — these farmers in India producing the dates for your consumption, for example — don’t know who you are, they don’t know where their dates are going, they might not even like you if they met you. (Laughs) Nevertheless, they are working for your benefit.The 19th century economist Bastiat said, “It’s a miracle that Paris is fed, and yet every day Paris is fed.” The trucks arrive on time, the food is delivered. It’s an incredible amount of cooperation involving millions of people. Economics open your eyes to the big picture which can sometimes be overshadowed by these other events like wars and revolutions — which are actually not the big story.
Read the whole thing for his thoughts on drug legalization, police, and bounty hunters.