Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Let’s begin with a sad case in which business increases inequality and
shrinks total economic activity. This is corruption.
This pattern plays out over and over again. The extreme examples include
the Philippines under Marcos, Indonesia under Sukarno, and today
Cameroon under Biya. And other cases are abundant.
Business will be corrupt where government officials are corrupt. But where
government is generally honest, business will be generally honest. Business
leaders will reflect the morals of the government and the society under
which they operate.
The sad part of this issue is that I cannot tell you how to get from here to
there. Take Sicily. The island has a history of corruption dating back
hundreds of years. How can Sicily become more like Sweden? I don’t know,
but I am certain that Sicilians would be much better off with less
corruption.
Scalability of Innovation
After 1945, Japanese labor was cheap. American companies imported many
products from Japan, and this use of undervalued labor led to higher wages
for the Japanese. The same process pushed wages up in Hong Kong, Korea,
Singapore and Taiwan, the “Four Tigers” of Asia. Poverty was greatly
reduced in these countries.
The greatest example of improved conditions for poor people is China.
Hundreds of millions of people lived on dreadfully low incomes under
communism. After the country opened up for business, production
increased and poor people did better. When international trade increased,
the poor did much better.
China’s neighbors learned the process, and growth has helped poor people
across Asia, especially in the poorest countries of southeast Asia.
We define extreme poverty as living on less than $1.90 per person per day.
That’s about ₽132 person per day. The number living in extreme poverty has
dropped by over one billion people in a 30-year period. This is the greatest
reduction of poverty in the history of the world. Let me repeat that: The
greatest reduction of poverty in the history of the world.
At the same time that companies are looking for undervalued resources,
they also look for underserved markets. We find private companies bringing
inexpensive clothing to poor people. Cheap mobile phones. And pay
attention to India, where the country’s richest man is offering extremely
cheap mobile calls and data. Poor people’s incomes are rising, and their
ability to buy goods is increasing.
Small Initiatives
This company is helping workers stay in the middle class. It’s helping
employers keep their tax costs down, helping banks collect on the loans they
have made. And NextJob itself is making a profit.
Conclusion