Review: Joseph Stiglitz, Making Globalization Work

Overall, Making Globalization Work seems shockingly light: akin to Stiglitz lending his Nobel Economic credentials to the agenda of the World Social Forum. Instead of an independent viewpoint, Stiglitz seems to fully endorse the “anti-globalization” thesis defined activists like Vandana Shiva and Naomi Klein.

However, for me, there were a few interesting takeaways:

1. In The End of Poverty, Jeffrey Sachs writes of natural resources as the key differentiator between countries that did and did not make it out of the "poverty trap"—UK and Bolivia, for example.

Stiglitz, on the other hand, points to the "resource curse": "It's no accident that so many resource-rich countries are far from democratic. The riches breed bad governance." He cites Nigeria, Congo, Iraq, Middle East, and Russia.

It seems you’re thus “damned if you have” and “damned if you don’t.” Perhaps another explanation of the underlying phenomenon is required.

2. Throughout the book Stiglitz condemns colonialism, IMF, and "shock therapy", similarly to (right-leaning) William Easterly in The White Man's Burden.

This is a stunning policy agreement, as it is rooted in completely different ideologies. While Easterly links all three policies to Western governmental meddling in “exotic lands,” Stiglitz considers the first two as examples of (mercantilist/pro-corporate-interest) "globalization" and the last as "market fundamentalism"—exactly the reverse of Easterly.

3. Finally, Stiglitz recognizes—as does Sachs—"free markets" as the foundation of a happy, abundant society and condemns socialist excesses. However, almost in the same breath, he proposes heavy Keynesian, if not essentially socialist, reforms to help "improve” these markets.

This rhetorical give-and-take is an important economic reform consideration. It seems that given such liberal concerns of the slippery slope towards unfettered markets and their opposite—conservative apprehension of the slide towards socialism—any sound, bipartisan economic reform proposal will have to appeal to the language and thinking of both to gain broad support.

This is particularly true of current economic institution reforms in the U.S. and internationally. If past is any example, these are likely to turn out as the battle of two lobbies—pro-aid and pro-corporate interest—neither one of which is necessarily pro-freedom or pro-prosperity.

The Google/T-Mobile G1: Neat but clunky

(Originally posted on Facebook on Sept. 23, based on G1 launch demonstrations and reporting)
G1 shows why cross-company orchestration in technology is so hard to do, and why Jobs-ian obsessive integration sometimes wins.

If you're a techie looking for the next toy and are already on the T-Mobile network, the G1 is for you. But, only a more streamlined, lighter, smaller next-generation "G2" would likely have the consumer "whoomph" to give Apple a real run for its money.

G1's operating system--the first "live" implementation of Google's Android--has a lot of neat features, but not necessarily ones non-tech-geeks will find most intuitive or useful. For example, the phone allows drag-and-drop onto three separate icon desktops, but has only a bare-bones built-in music player.

The phone's physical design, by HTC, is more reminiscent of the original, circa-1996 Palm Pilot than a modern smartphone. That's surprising, as HTC also ships slick Windows Mobile handsets like the HTC Touch.

Finally, as Verizon might say, "it's the network." T-Mobile has a bit of a ways to go on its 3G network rollout, which, of course, it promises to do this fall.

What's in it for Google?

Google is donating Android code as open source. So, what's in this for Google?

Mobile advertising is the official raison-d'etre, but it's still nascent and difficult to implement despite growing screen sizes.

Features-bundling is another, and G1 is full of it. If your world consists of Gmail, Google Maps, and YouTube, this phone is for you. If you have more diverse online preferences, however, you may find G1's built-in "steering" towards these services somewhat irritating.

Controlling key technology in future mobile development is the third, but as Dylan Tweney of Wired points out, Google must move quickly to prevent Android balkanization and loss of brand.

"The company needs to set up an aggressive "Googlephone" partners program." "If Google doesn't do that, Android will quickly disappear into the morass of poorly-branded smartphone operating systems that consumers don't give a damn about, alongside Symbian, Windows Mobile and the Palm OS. And Google will have lost the mobile game."

Great minds think alike?

New York Times' David Pogue writing on Oct. 16 agrees with my original review, giving the G1 the following report card: "software, A-. Phone, B-. Network, C".

JibJab.com

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Amost Famous

I'm profiled in the summer issue of the Tufts Magazine (where I once used to work)!

"I don’t think John Kerry presents the ability to lead the country in any direction. His record of changing his stances and decisions is going to come out very clearly, and the people of this country are going to see that this guy has no plan to lead us anywhere. The Bush administration showed strong leadership in the face of terrorism and on social and economic issues. They are providing a course for America to a better future for our generation and our children’s generation."

I was also quoted in a lengthy article about young Republicans in the North Shore Sunday:

Much was made about the way former Vermont governor Howard Dean utilized the Internet in getting young people excited about his campaign for the White House, but as Tufts' Tsipman explains, Democrats weren't the only ones taking notice of Dean's technique.

"I think the Internet has been huge in the way it's been used by young conservatives," says Tsipman. "I thought the Dean phenomenon was pretty amazing, but the Bush campaign team that's targeted at college students is absolutely fantastic.

"Plus there are books and conferences and great college programs for conservatives," he adds. "It's all these things that gets students energized, gets them interested and gets them out to vote."

Chirac's Outbursts Worry World Leaders

From Mort Rosenblum, outspoken veteran of the AP and author of "Who Stole the News?":

Chirac's Outbursts Worry World Leaders
By MORT ROSENBLUM, AP

PARIS (July 25) - Jacques Chirac, whose refusal to join the Iraq invasion gained him I-told-you-so clout, is worrying allies with blunt outbursts that some say raise the risks in an overheated world.

At a time when fighting terrorism needs a united front, arrogance in Paris and Washington alike is breeding discord, analysts and diplomats say.

The crux is simple: While George W. Bush wants to destroy terrorism, Chirac insists that at best, it can only be contained.

But things have gone beyond the two men's apparent mutual dislike to drag in other leaders.

Turkey, for instance, badly wants to join the European Union. But last month, when Bush endorsed Turkey's ambitions, Chirac essentially told him to mind his own business, saying Europe doesn't tell the United States how to deal with Mexico.

Chirac has enraged eastern European newcomers to the European Union by warning them against supporting the Iraq invasion. He is engaged in a nasty exchange with Ariel Sharon over the Israeli prime minister's claim that France is engulfed in "the wildest anti-Semitism" and that its Jews should get out. And he has angered the Muslim world by championing a ban on schoolgirls' wearing Islamic head scarves at school.

Chirac also sent a message to this month's international AIDS conference in Thailand accusing Washington of tying aid to trade and calling it "tantamount to blackmail."