On this fiftieth anniversary of Bretton Woods the Pakistani economist Mahbub ul Haq has advocated a return to Keynes' original vision. He calls for an international civil society including a global bank with more decisive powers and a world tax authority where power and influence would be held on the basis of population rather than capital subscription. I have two sorts of conflicting reactions. I think there are areas where we absolutely need a forum for international agreements - atmosphere, oceans, nuclear proliferation. However most questions of economic life are not necessarily global.
Most people make their living in national or local settings.
There is a kind of tendency to want to globalize the economy and that I would resist very strongly. I think we ought to be moving very much in the opposite direction. Let goods flow across boundaries but the idea of capital becoming global running all over the world to employ labour in the cheapest possible place and then export and import everything all over the globe strikes me as a very bad idea. Yet it's exactly what we are doing. Mabbub ul Haq's case for an international civil society is that it would provide a counterweight to the kind of globalization that is going on now - mostly driven by transnationals and banks.