But within the constraints imposed by the democratic process
The Copenhagen Consensus is what politicians would do if they carried out a clear-eyed evaluation of the costs and benefits of various policies. The problem is they don’t, because it would not be good politics. If we are looking at saving lives, and making saved lives better, we should divert resources to the poorest people on the planet. Unfortunately, those are the people who have no voice, because they live in countries ruled by psychopaths and kleptocrats.
Maybe we should get rid of the kleptocrats. There are two problems with this:
- kleptocrats are much more biddable, and can be bought for modest sums, especially when we turn a blind eye to ‘commissions’ paid to cronies when the West sells defence systems to these people,
- there are probably no known examples of a foreign power successfully causing a country to transition from a dictatorship to a democracy. Just ask the Iraquis, or Libyans, or Afghanistanis.
The other approach would be to just say to people in very poor countries: ‘come to our country: we need immigrants because our young people have to support and endlessly growing mass of old, unproductive ones.’ Well, we all know what happens to politicians who want to go down this route.
For the planet, we need to stop handing out subsidies, and tax polluting businesses. But, how can we piss off those businesses, which employ so many workers, and pay so much to politicians in ‘donations?’
To boost the economy of the planet, we need to break down trade barriers, and support farmers in Africa, and educate the uneducated. Well, the ways that policies that would achieve these would cause problems for western politicians is left as an exercise for the reader.
For what it’s worth, here are the recommendations:
People
- Lower chronic child malnutrition by 40%
- Halve malaria infection
- Reduce tuberculosis deaths by 90%
- Avoid 1.1 million HIV infections through circumcision
- Cut early death from chronic diseases by 1/3
- Reduce newborn mortality by 70%
- Increase immunization to reduce child deaths by 25%
- Make family planning available to everyone
- Eliminate violence against women and girls
Planet
- Phase out fossil fuel subsidies
- Halve coral reef loss
- Tax pollution damage from energy
- Cut indoor air pollution by 20%
Prosperity
- Reduce trade restrictions (full Doha): tariffs impoverish everyone
- Improve gender equality in ownership, business, and politics
- Boost agricultural yield increase by 40% (grain yields in Africa are still typically below what they could achieve in Italy at the time of the Roman Empire!),
- Increase girls’ education by 2 years
- Achieve universal primary education in sub-Saharan Africa
- Triple preschool in sub-Saharan Africa
Twenty Eight Trillion Dollars
That sounds like a lot!
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