Chroniques patagones

Johan Norberg se penche sur le paradoxe de Singapour, un pays qui, s'il continue de croître à la même vitesse, disposera dans cinq ans d'un PIB par habitant supérieur à celui de la Suède :

I am in Singapore for the first time. A wealthy country that is a paradox. The world´s most globalised economy, the country where it is easiest to do business, with an economy that is less corrupt than Sweden´s and Switzerland´s. And yet, it´s an undemocratic country with government control of the courts and the media, where opposition figures are bankrupted by absurd legal processes. That paradox in itself makes it worth studying.

With unilateral free trade and liberal rules, Singapore has succeeded in becoming a meeting place, a regional hub for global businesses. But as other countries liberalise their economy and attract the same companies, can Singapore really encourage local entrepreneurship and innovation, while at the same time discouraging people from thinking for themselves and acting in strange, unpredictable ways, that are not welcomed by the establishement?

The jury is still out.

Un paradoxe qui rappelle les réflexions que se faisait Thomas Sowell il y a quelque temps sur la pauvreté, la création de richesse et sa distribution :

"China is lifting a million people a month out of poverty."

It is just one statement in an interesting new book titled "The Undercover Economist" by Tim Harford. But it has huge implications.

I haven't checked out the statistics but they sound reasonable.

If so, this is something worth everyone's attention.

People on the political left make a lot of noise about poverty and advocate all sorts of programs and policies to reduce it but they show incredibly little interest in how poverty has actually been reduced, whether in China or anywhere else.

Et la question : le développement sans démocratie est-il possible, souhaitable ?