Sublime

either

It is not enough to be granted the right not to be abused by our governments without the corresponding right to receive assistance; not enough to possess civil and political rights without social and economic ones as well.

Notwithstanding the horror that the word elicits in many parts of the political spectrum, globalization, development analysts agree, has been a bonanza for the poor. Deaton notes, “Some argue that globalization is a neoliberal conspiracy designed to enrich a very few at the expense of many. If so, that conspiracy was a disastrous failure—or at

The real problem of development, in this view, is not one of figuring out good policies: It is to sort out the political process.

First, rather than narrowly self-interested we are social and reciprocating. Second, in place of fixed preferences, we have fluid values. Third, instead of isolated we are interdependent. Fourth, rather than calculate, we usually approximate. And fifth, far from having dominion over nature, we are deeply embedded in the web of life.

Contrary to the founding theories of development economics, inequality does not make economies grow faster: if anything, it slows them down. And it does so by wasting the potential of much of the population: people who could be schoolteachers or market traders, nurses or micro-entrepreneurs – actively contributing to the wealth and well-being of

The key to wellbeing, therefore, is a combination of objectives—not just the pursuit of wealth, but the combination of prosperity, lower levels of inequality, and environmental sustainability. The triple bottom line of economic, social, and environmental objectives is the concept of sustainable development. It must be the essential vision for our

task of balancing individual freedoms against the common good. Governance mechanisms emerged in human society for precisely this reason.

Many parents in rich countries don’t need to think in quite these terms because they have other ways to deal with their waning years—there is Social Security, there are mutual funds and retirement plans, and there is health insurance, public or private.