|
Hands up for a moral economy |
|
|
|
Globalisation for the Common Good
by Kamran Mofid
Shepheard-Walwyn £12.95
In six short chapters the author sharply outlines the desperate nature of the world's economic crisis, lays blame on the way economists have taught their subject and the pitiless implementation of the policies of the IMF and World Bank. He traces the relevance of some of the teaching of the Catholic Church, gives support for the remedies of Henry George and pleads for an inter-religious common front.
That is a great deal ground to cover but the resulting mix of the economic, social, ecological and religious gives the book its power.
The success of world economic development, judged by the expansion of trade, new technology and freer market, has been enormous. The growth of poverty and inequality, the degraded ways of living, of debt and of harm to the environment tell a different story. The book places the blame on the exclusion from economics in theory and practice, any human and ethical dimension. This was not always so. Adam Smith was just as strong on sharing for the common good as he was on increasing trade.
The book's analysis of world debt and the increase in poverty in the UK between 1979 and 1997 and the effect of America's domination of the world economy all show how great a problem it is to change direction. The media, the universities and governments more and more concur in the message that individual happiness lies in having more, regardless of the consequences. Who is to speak otherwise?
One voice on justice the author suggests is the Catholic Church. Another is that of Henry George and his book Progress and Poverty. I know of no evidence pointing to the synthesis for which he hopes between the two. Henry George replied to the Encyclical Letter of Pope Leo XIII in a brilliant letter explaining his ethical and economic standpoint.
The Pope stood firm on the absolute right to private property in all forms. George differentiated between that which is God-made and that which is man-made, between land and capital. George's battle remains to be won. Is the Catholic Church capable of that degree of change with the risk of being branded socialist?
Mofid appeals to fellow economists to include ethics, morality and faith in their teaching. He sees hope in different religions coming together to work for a global ethic of the responsibility of all of us for a better global order globalisation, in fact, for the common good.
The book is very readable and has a sharpness of style (unemployment being now termed “job-search, the author suggests that cardboard-box-dwelling might be termed “home-search). The author's wide reading, passionate concern, his international perspective and his determined hopes for change pervade this worthwhile book.
Alan Laurie.
|
