Jagdish Bhagwati: The Free Market and Morality

[@jpinkard]

You have to assume that these people want to be pulled out of this "poverty." Or assume that they want there "market opened." What happens when there is no more cheap labor? How is it moral to pay workers pennies an hour? I really enjoy this BigThink channel very much. It's interesting and timely. Keep it up.

[@420xHustlerxB0SS]

A person with property is granted, morally or legally, the right to use force on others by retaliation. Property itself is a form of power. The moral weight it has only adds to the power.

[@-Aurumn-]

I'll support anything that's voluntarily done by an individual pursuing their own happiness by negotiating freely. It's the "negotiating freely" part that seems to be lacking in these sweatshops. Often due to local government/corporate collusion. In all, however...Once these communities have built up a capital base, I don't think they'll be as easily taken advantage of. The only way they CAN build that capital is by production. Don't you have to start somewhere?

[@psychiatristman00]

good point about globalization.

[@josephdownie5441]

"A new area of activity for the Templeton Foundation is the funding of research projects and teaching programs that promote enterprise-based solutions to poverty and that promote "the virtues that support successful capitalist economies". this is taken from their Wiki page, just so that people know who it is that's providing this information.

[@lralbrecht]

the indian economist isn't in the USA because he can't get a teaching job in india. he is in the US because its schools have the means to be attractive to the best, foreigners included.

[@DipakBose-bq1vv]

He was a Professor in Delhi University before, it is not true that he could not get a job in India.

[@gabsave]

Let's say there is no government and there is only free market. Assume, the wheat harvest is bad in this season and it's supply is limited. I being a wealthy person want to exploit this short supply and will buy a huge chunk of wheat from the market and hoard it for a short duration. Due to my purchase, the wheat price shoots up and poor people are priced out. So to your point that Wealth is not power, doesn't really hold. Does it ?

[@fringeelements]

What happens is those child laborers, who were working on farms, earn higher wages and work shorter hours.

[@zotone]

Bhagwati is hilarious :P

[@munkyusm]

@lralbrecht Sigh...he came to the USA because he didn't want to wait for India to catch up to the United States. "exploitation", as people who have no idea of how a market actually works call it, will eventually lead to all nations who pursue it being on the same developmental level that always increases. If it were not for governments, via forceful intervention (i.e. tariffs, regulation, taxes), the rest of the world would catch up MUCH faster.

[@leelaloop]

If they're unilaterally examining how sweatshop labor makes the workers more moral, they appear to be justifying it- especially if they ignore how immoral sweatshops and neo-colonialism is. Jagdish Bhagwati speaks specifically on the morality of the worker's choices, but not on all about what terrible conditions he works in. If that's not rationalizing it, then it's just plain ignorance.

[@Crazylalalalala]

@munkyusm interesting idea BUT people always live in some sort of power structure. Gov't, Mob, Tribe, Group of Friends,.... there is always power structure and wealth is one of the most powerful tool of gaining power and control over the power structure thus gaining power. there needs to be a balance. govt need to be just big enough to provide the important services (which i would say are health, security, law, some social welfare, education) but not any bigger.

[@munkyusm]

@Foreshadow44 Well, in a free market, where government does not monopolize education, what you as a teacher would do is open a school out of your house, and you'd probably do a MUCH better job than the job you do now...where you're told what to teach.

[@munkyusm]

Of course tariffs harm everyone. I don't know where you got the impression that I supported tariffs.

[@D0g63rt]

He doesn't know things that were expected to be common knowledge.

[@farzivardhan]

5:16 laughed my ass off

[@munkyusm]

@Tanitko4 Corruption = abuse of power. How do you get rid of corruption? Get rid of power. How do you get rid of power? Extremely limited government...or no government at all. Wealth is not power, when there's no power structure to throw your money at. So, please don't use the wealth argument as an excuse for a reason to have massive government.

[@TheShoTo]

I dont understarnd the joke about Sarkozy.

[@munkyusm]

@davidmesaaz I'm confused. Do you actually want these third world societies to progress?

[@TheShoTo]

things such like what ?

[@Crazylalalalala]

@munkyusm yes but there will always be a small group in society that has power over the rest. Gov;t is one example, but criminal gangs are another. Do you really think that people will stop wanting power just because gov''t is limited or non existent? I dont. Thus i much prefer a gov't that i can at least inflorescence with my piers by voting rather then a crimial gang that forces their view on me.

[@primevk]

Read his papers....his so called wisdom is diluted by his lack of humility and bigotry

[@leelaloop]

It is a depraved act to rationalize and justify sweatshop labor, no matter how amoral the situation is. I highly doubt these people speak for those who work 12 hours a day in a stressful environment with no breaks and are threatened with brutality to not try to start a labor union. Thanks, BigThink, for providing a false dialogue with no representation for those who acknowledge the inhumanity of the policies of the FLA.

[@ben-dr3wf]

something about him is so annoying.