Look beyond media scare stories
“The World Is Quietly Getting Better.”
That is the headline of an important article by columnist Greg Ip in The Wall Street Journal for Jan. 3.
Traditionally, my column early in the New Year describes positive trends in the world. That can be worthwhile, but also can become routine, a predictable rut of optimism that turns off rather than inspires some readers, and not just pessimists.
In order to counter that risk, this year there is reference to other information sources, including the Brookings Institution and the World Bank. Shared opinions are not necessarily entirely accurate opinions, but there is strength in numbers, and the results of in-depth research bolster the views.
Ip emphasizes the extraordinary recent movement of the vast mass of people in the world out of abject poverty. In the year 1980, approximately onehalf of the population on the planet lived in “extreme poverty.”
The World Bank defines that condition as below $1.90 per day valued in 2011 dollars, an estimate adjusted to account for drastically different cost and price structures in various countries and regions. Less than that amount means essential conditions of life cannot be met.
That is not news. Through the long sweep of human history, the vast majority of the population lived in destitution, unhealthy misery, and often starvation. Imminent death was a fact of life. That gruesome reality led a lot of people to idealize poverty, celebrate simple rural life, a denial of reality that is also part of the human condition.
That no longer is the case. Under 10 percent of the world’s population is now in that terrible state, and this year likely will bring a further reduction. That is news.
As this implies, the poorest parts of the globe are successfully playing economic catch-up, with considerable success. Africa is an especially dramatic example. Although that continent truly is vast and diverse, the demonstrable economic progress is generally evident, not limited to just a few states.
The influential, respected Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., is devoting helpful in-depth focus to Africa development. The “Africa Growth Initiative” is a valuable continuing source of research information.
Reinforcing and directly related to the article by Ip, the World Bank has just issued the “Doing Business 2019” report. The document evaluates trends in starting a new business, securing credit, quality of government regulation, absence of corruption and related matters. Sub-Saharan Africa is rated highest in terms of positive reforms over the past fifteen years.
Related to economic progress and development, democracy is becoming the accepted way of life for the world’s population overall, not just the privileged few. As recently as three decades ago, the people of Latin America lived almost uniformly in various degrees of authoritarian regime.
Likewise, reasonably honest and contested elections are spreading in Africa, Asia, and the former Soviet Union and — at least locally — China. In global context, the dramatic, tumultuous and violent “Arab Spring,” while currently stymied, has been partly a manifestation of the worldwide drive toward fair representative government.
Japan and South Korea are somewhat overshadowed by negative nuclear news from North Korea. That is unfortunate. Both provide examples to the rest of Asia of functioning political democracies. Both populations have surmounted enormous challenges to do so.
Undeniably, free com- petitive economies and open competitive elections are interconnected. Adam Smith’s classic “The Wealth of Nations” appeared in 1776, the year the American Revolution began.