Last week should be the last Davos
31 January 2012
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Apparently, the World Economic Forum – a pre-skiing holiday talking shop for many of its attendees – exists as “an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas”.
If some global business people, journalists and academics wish to waste their own money attending this conference, then I guess we would have nothing to complain about. However, the World Economic Forum, which deliberated last weekend, is also a huge magnet for politicians and public intellectuals to make grand-stand speeches and for politicians to mix with and exchange ideas with major business leaders. It is, in other words, a perfect environment for “crony capitalism” to flourish. Will small businesses be there to make the case against the expansion of regulation such as the EU temporary workers directive? Of course not. They will be hard at work trying to make a living in an increasingly hostile economic climate. David Cameron says that he wants to root out crony capitalism. He should therefore have boycotted Davos.
But, the main objection to Davos must surely be the hubris of those involved. We do not need the “global industry agenda” shaping by self-appointed experts. Industry is shaped by the dispersed decisions of seven billion consumers and millions of businesses. Industry is shaped from the bottom up and not from the top down. Davos attendees would do well to take note of Hayek’s appeal to economists: “The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design”. How little we know is perhaps indicated by the Davos Reports on risk at the 2007 meeting. I could not find any concern about risks within the banking system – bird flu was the main worry.
Read the rest of the article on ConservativeHome.
If some global business people, journalists and academics wish to waste their own money attending this conference, then I guess we would have nothing to complain about. However, the World Economic Forum, which deliberated last weekend, is also a huge magnet for politicians and public intellectuals to make grand-stand speeches and for politicians to mix with and exchange ideas with major business leaders. It is, in other words, a perfect environment for “crony capitalism” to flourish. Will small businesses be there to make the case against the expansion of regulation such as the EU temporary workers directive? Of course not. They will be hard at work trying to make a living in an increasingly hostile economic climate. David Cameron says that he wants to root out crony capitalism. He should therefore have boycotted Davos.
But, the main objection to Davos must surely be the hubris of those involved. We do not need the “global industry agenda” shaping by self-appointed experts. Industry is shaped by the dispersed decisions of seven billion consumers and millions of businesses. Industry is shaped from the bottom up and not from the top down. Davos attendees would do well to take note of Hayek’s appeal to economists: “The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design”. How little we know is perhaps indicated by the Davos Reports on risk at the 2007 meeting. I could not find any concern about risks within the banking system – bird flu was the main worry.
Read the rest of the article on ConservativeHome.
3 thoughts on “Last week should be the last Davos”
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In other words, it’s a load of tosh, just like all these other big-wig worldy conventions where self-appointed experts and blowhards get together to decide what is best for their own self interests, then come back to their respective countries and begin a unified approach to inflicting it on to everyone else not of their grandiose status and high calibre. I’m certain it’s even nicer for them when they can get government tax money or corporate charity to pay for it. But since I am of lowly sort, I guess my opinion would be considered worthless.
Canadian economist Ian Lee sizes up Davos rather nicely.
I think I agree with you on this. One thing is nothing is ever achieved. They meet, they spend money on expensive hotels, they get nice food then they do it again two months later.