March 2001

SEMINAR: SOCIALLY RESPONSIVE GLOBALIZATION

IDB TO HOST DEBATE ON SOCIALLY RESPONSIVE GLOBALIZATION

Scholars and policymakers to discuss measures for greater equity

A socially responsive globalization means that the process of integrating the world economy and its people occurs in a context where opportunities are expanded for everybody and particularly for the poor. Many indicators suggest that the forces for socially responsive globalization have not been set in motion.

While it is true that the quality of life has improved more in the past century than in the rest of history, the world is characterized today by strong, and often growing, contrasts, between rich and poor, between countries and within countries. The gap between the poorest and the richest countries has doubled in the last twenty years. Worldwide, inequality between individuals has risen too.

In conjunction with the Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Inter-American Development Bank, a group of leading scholars and policymakers of worldwide recognition will discuss international rules governing the exchange of capital, goods and services, and labor, to make them more responsive to the needs of developing countries. They will also examine the need to incorporate measures to achieve greater equity both within and among countries.

The seminar "Socially Responsive Globalization," to be held in Santiago, Chile, on March 18, will also address the role of international institutions in the promotion of international public goods.

The adjustments to be discussed will range from unilateral liberalization of trade to special provisions for poorer countries and more generous migration policies in the richer countries. Other diverse issues to be discussed are the introduction of codes of ethics by businesses to ensure adequate labor conditions, and a more tolerant and gradual opening of capital investment on the part of developing countries.

The debate for a socially responsive globalization will include the issues of raising labor and environmental standards and the rules governing the international exchange of goods, services, capital, technology and people.

The discussion will also consider the issue of shared responsibility, with those who can contribute more doing so, and it will address the production of global public goods, such as vaccines. Other issues will be protecting democracy and peace, environmental sustainability and global financial stability, and prompt responses to calamities - be they natural, economic or social.

Other issues for debate will include social protection mechanisms to cope with the transitional costs and changing circumstances of a more economically integrated world, with national governments assuming their own responsibilities and ensuring high-level professional representation in international and regional forums.

Closing the gap between rich and poor will also require international, regional and national initiatives to enable the production of public goods. Contributions from multilateral bodies and richer countries will be essential.

Expanding the asset base of the poor will also be important, particularly in the area of education, skills; and infrastructure to ensure access to markets and technology. Initiatives will be needed to reduce the risk of financial crises, terms of trade shocks, international recession and natural disasters. Mechanisms must be established to help developing countries and the more disadvantaged people everywhere cope with calamities when they occur. Ways must be found to make medicine available and accessible to fight diseases in developing countries.

Discussions on socially responsive globalization will examine the role of the private sector in expanding access of developing countries, and the poor in general, to business opportunities. The private sector will also have a role in promoting the production of public goods, a process that can make medicines more accessible, and in contributing to equitable outcomes in the rules that govern intellectual property rights.

The challenge will be to establish specific actions to be undertaken by developing countries and mechanisms of social protection that governments could implement to reduce the risks and help the poor cope with shocks when they occur.