Paul Collier on the "bottom billion"

[Trevor Watkins]

Some genuinely useful ideas on reducing poverty in Africa.

Check out this amazing TEDTalk:

Paul Collier on the "bottom billion"
http://on.ted.com/cXWj

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[Colin Bower]

Hi Trevor - thanks for posting the video ... but in a spirit of friendly disagreement, I can't share your enthusiasm for it. Before he even starts talking, I am already suspicious when a TEDex speaker stands up to tell us how to end world poverty. He'll have the one thing we don't need to end world poverty - a plan. And he (or she) - however self-effacing he or she pretends to be -  will gain great glory and renown and probably a small fortune when his or her plan gains momentum and support, but fails.

But even as plans go, Collier's is infantile. What does he recommend? "Compassion" and that old chimera, "enlightened self-interest". If they are the solution, why don't we already have them? And if we don't already have them, can they be promoted into life and existence, as it were? It's a bit  like saying, all we need is love, or, all we need to stop crime is more law abiding people. Yes, well quite.

But apart from such objections, am I the only person who finds appeals to our better natures in order to improve the world insufferably sanctimonious? By appealing to our sense of compassion, he is effectively boasting that he is himself an embodiment of compassion, and therefore virtue. But I object. Compassion is not a policy position, a collective virtue or even a tool for making the world a better place. If and when it exists, it does so in its entirety only and exclusively in the domain of  personal life, perhaps even private life.. there is no public virtue, only private virtue.

Then "enlightened self-interest". That is also an empty appeal to virtue as a means of making the world a better place. You cannot make the existence of personal virtue a public policy position. One person's enlightenment (religion, say) is another person's unholy darkness. Hugh Heffner's idea of enlightenment was never mine, but he was never selling enlightenment, he was selling sex as a wall-to-wall 24/7 obsession. I just thought it a little imbalanced. Introducing "enlightenment" as an intrinsic aspect of wealth creation can only lead to discord. Why not just "self interest"? That's more than good enough for me. Contrary to what collectivists and socialists and professional philanthrposts like to claim, self-interest is not the creed of selfishnesss. It is merely the stunning insight that wealth and therefore prosperity  is created by people serving their own interests, and without that wealth and therefore prosperity, philanthropy is impossible. Sorry, I guess Trevor and all libertarians would regard this is as less even than Economivc Freedom 101, but it needs to be said because Collier hasn't done the course.

I would go so far as to say that world poverty is not a "problem" that needs "solving", because a formulation like that implies plans, squadrons of planners, and intricate webs of self-enrichment masquerading as concern. It's not what we do that matters, it's what we should stop doing. Wouldn't we all - whatever our individual shades of libertarianism - agree that when we stop taking peoples' freedom away from them, they will quite comfortable, willingly and effectively solve the so-called "problems" of poverty themselves? The only way to create wealth is by means of trade. Get out of the way of trade and prosperity will ensue.

I apologise if I appear to be telling libertarians what they well know themselves..

Colin B.

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[Trevor Watkins]

Hi Colin

I trust you listened to the full talk, since most of the useful stuff is in the last 5 to 10 minutes. The blurb talks about compassion and enlightened self-interest, but that is only a part of what he proposes. Interestingly, one of his key points is that trade creates wealth, and cites the example of how GATT changed the nature of post-war Europe. 

What I liked about his talk was that his ideas were not pie-in-the-sky, just need to raise a 100 billion and all will be solved, Bono-like rubbish. He cites the example of British Telecom deciding to hold a verifiable auction for 3G rights and realising ten times their initial estimate of revenue. This is an idea which has probably never occurred to our bunch of tenderpreneurs. He mentions the "Extractive Industries Transparency Agreement" which binds governments to reveal their income from extractive industries. A useful bill to introduce in our parliament, perhaps. He describes how democracy has failed in Africa (a view with which I agree) because of the absence of adequate checks and balances on government power, and suggests a simple idea - establish a set of international norms for checks and balances, and encourage states to adopt these voluntarily, like the GENEVA CONVENTION.  As he says, a few well-worded documents widely available and agreed to will cost zilch, but may make a difference to reformist organisations in Africa.

regards

Trevor Watkins - Base Software
bas...@gmail.com 083 44 11 721 - 042 293 1405 - (fax)0866 532 363
PO Box 3302, Jeffreys Bay, 6330

[Stephen vJ]

Hear, hear seems inappropriate, so read, read !

S.

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