Paul Krugman: An American Pie

[Ronald Norman <pero1776@xxxxxxxxx>]

Op-Ed/New York Times

February 16, 2000

RECKONINGS / By PAUL KRUGMAN

An American Pie

Talk about globalization. Michel Camdessus probably
knew that his last speech as managing director of the
International Monetary Fund might be accompanied by
some protests. But he surely did not expect an
American activist to follow him to Bangkok and throw a
cream pie in his face.

The American represented one of the groups hoping to
make April's I.M.F.-World Bank meeting in Washington a
second Seattle. Sunday's pie-throwing was, of course,
a publicity stunt. But the symbolism -- an American
traveling to Asia to save Asians from globalization,
whether they want to be saved or not -- is too apt to
pass up.

Let's admit that there were some actual Thai
protesters outside the lecture hall. And let's also
admit that the I.M.F. is a more plausible villain than
the World Trade Organization, the bizarrely demonized
target of the Seattle protests. The I.M.F. is no more
a world government than the W.T.O. is; but through the
conditions that it imposes in return for loans the
I.M.F. does, at least in times of crisis, get to
dictate policies to sovereign states.

The W.T.O., by contrast, is basically a commercial
court; all it does is determine when countries are
violating the agreements they have already made.
(Example: The U.S. can set whatever environmental
standards it likes, but having agreed to the principle
of non-discrimination, it cannot hold imported
gasoline to a higher standard than the domestic
product.)

The protesters of Seattle past and Washington future,
however, don't make such fine distinctions. They are
as opposed to free trade in goods as they are to
speculative movements of short-term capital; they view
the longer-term trends in the world economy, not just
the short-term crises, with dismay. And that is why
the spectacle of an American going to Thailand, of all
places, to protest globalization is so remarkable. For
Thailand is one of those export-led success stories
that are the best advertisement for the W.T.O. and its
free-trade agenda.

Now wait a second, you say. Wasn't there a terrible
financial crisis recently? Yes, there was, and the
I.M.F. mishandled it. But the Thai economy is
recovering, and even post-crisis Thailand is a much
better place than it used to be.

This may not be obvious to the Western visitor. Much
of Bangkok is an urban nightmare of shanties and
traffic jams; Thailand is still poorer than most
Westerners can easily imagine. But that, in a way, is
the point: because the developing world is still so
poor, what looks to careless observers like
exploitation is often far better than the alternative.


Try looking at some of the literature of the
anti-globalists -- say, the lavish series of full-page
ads that have been placed in this newspaper by the
Turning Point Project. (Who's paying for those ads, by
the way?) Again and again you see the less attractive
features of the modern world contrasted with an
imagined pre-globalization Arcadia of happy villagers
living in harmony with nature. Then try checking some
of the facts about life before the export boom. Never
mind G.D.P.; we're talking basic nutrition and health.
What you will discover is that life in that
pre-globalization society was nasty, brutish and
short; for example, in 1975 only one rural Thai in six
had access to safe drinking water. Today it's four out
of five.

No wonder, then, that many third-world leaders are
contemptuous of their self-proclaimed Western friends
who, in the words of Mexico's president, Ernesto
Zedillo, are "determined to save developing countries
from development."

Of course, those developing countries have their own
gripes about the world trading system. Mainly these
involve their desire for more, not less, international
trade: they are rightly angry that rich countries that
proclaim the virtues of free trade place so many
obstacles in the way of their potential exports. And
they also want more of a say in the decisions of the
W.T.O. -- largely because they are afraid that it will
give in to the demands of the Seattle types, imposing
labor and environmental standards that they cannot
afford.

What they don't want is affluent Westerners telling
them -- strangely, at the very moment that some
developing countries are finally starting to acquire a
bit of real economic power -- what a terrible thing
the modern world is.

Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company

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