Globalization, Stiglitz and Penguin

It is funny how intrinsically linked these three topics are, although not surprising.

I went to a talk at City University on Thursday to hear Joseph Stiglitz talk about his new book Making Globalization Work. Joseph Stiglitz was Chief Economist at the World Bank until January 2000 and won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2001. He is undoubtedly one of the most famous economists in the world. His most popular books include The Roaring Nineties and Globalization and Its Discontents. This lecture was essentially a promotion for his latest book, which like the two above mentioned books, is of course also published by Penguin.

The lecture was generally quite interesting, especially because he spoke quite about the importance of Intellectual Property. Other than that I have to say that I wasn’t too taken by the lecture, as he didn’t really seem to say anything we didn’t already know. He touched on the fact that globalization was meant to decrease the discrepancy between rich and poor, which it hasn’t in most countries, particularly Africa. I can’t even remember the other examples he cited for why Globalization isn’t working, but the truth is that I can’t imagine too many people saying that Globalization is a full-out success and that generally, the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.

A funny example given by Stiglitz in relation to Intellectual Property revolved around one of his early books, piracy and China. He said that in the 80’s, somebody actually phoned him and asked him to write a foreword for a pirated edition of his book. Stiglitz, apparently, was quite excited and pleased about the prospect of doing this because for him it merely meant that his thoughts would be read by more people. He claimed that if one in ten people read it in China that would probably be more than the rest of the world accumulated. Needless to say, his publishers were fiercely opposed to the idea and dissuaded him from doing so.

Somehow I can’t get my head around the idea of making globalization work. Why if, for instance, if the discrepancy between rich and poor is constantly increasing, do you publish your book with Penguin, who are owned by one of the world’s largest media conglomerates, Pearson? The answer Stiglitz would give would probably be that their global presence makes it attainable to a wider group of readers. I don’t see how that is true, as even small indie publishers are in a position to license publishing rights on a global scale, especially with a brand name such as Stiglitz. The same goes for the book signing that ensued the lecture, sponsored by high-street giant Waterstone’s. Why not use Foyles or an independent? If you want to make globalization work and decrease the gap between rich and poor, conglomerates and indies, then surely you would do your part and support the weaker of the two. For me, personally, it wasn’t good enough to hear him say that through rational analysis and policies we will be able to make globalization work.