Development...

Something interesting to think about is whether a global economy can support state socio-economic development...as in moving from an impoverished agrarian/subsistence culture to one of trade.

Stiglitz does a decent job at addressing if globalization and the market economy truly allow for states to "develop". But firstly, what is development? What pre-conditions are necessary for such growth to occur? Development of impoverished countries is just that-a shift in capability made possible through improvements in health, education, sanitation, government, and other components of basic infrastructure necessary for the public to survive adequatley, or maybe a little prosperity thrown in there.

But my problem with Wolf's chapters is their utter failure to mention micro-finance. While I'm an idealist, I hope that others understand the priviledges we have here. For seniors who're graduating, we simply attempt to find a job. We have the world at our fingertips. Now, imagine living in a world where water shortages exist, diease may have taken members of your family, civil unrest exists, the freedom of women may be just a passing thought, and you work to live.

Now, does Wolf mention this? No. He self-righteously assumes that the market economy takes care of everyone. Yes, there are haves and have-nots. But do we exist in a society where that gap should be increasingly by the year? One would hope not. As priviledged citizens, our life is not necessarily our own. Yes, capitalism, trade, and the economic fringe benefits are great. But there are others who are in fact worse off, starving, dying, exhausted-because they may not have been given a chance to reach a higher potential.

"It is easy to dodge our responsibilities, but we cannot dodge the consequences of dodging our responsibilities."
Sir Josiah Charles Stamp, an English Economist

This quote launches me into my question for next time: "How does development of the community infrastructure create itself?"