I have never been a fan of the WEF, although its demonisation by the anti-globalisation left is an endless source of amusement. Gatherings of the great and the good rarely produce anything worthwhile. This year’s Forum seems to have taken a turn for the worse, with the participation of celebrities such as Sharon Stone, Bono and Angelina Jolie, among others. The discussions on poverty have provided plenty of opportunities for conspicuous compassion, yet many of these debates are pointless because they are blind to the fundamental causes of poverty. Reducing poverty is not about rich countries spending money on poverty alleviation. Indeed, by all accounts, such spending makes poverty worse by institutionalising statism and corruption in developing countries. Reducing poverty requires promoting the necessary conditions for wealth creation: property rights, free markets and the rule of law. Unfortunately, these are rather abstract concepts, difficult to translate into practical programs and well beyond the attention span of your average celebrity.
Adam Smithee has been casting a sceptical eye over the WEF proceedings and is well worth a visit.
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