Building a World with Economic Justice

—Address at the World Cultural Development Forum （2014）

Jiang Chang

Dear Colleagues，Ladies and Gentlemen，

While seven scholars from seven different countries stay together in the University of St. Thomas to discuss the issue of “Economic Inequality and World Justice”，please let me extend warmest welcome to you on behalf of the organizing committee of World Culture Development Forum of 2014. Co-hosted by Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies in Hubei University，the Society for Values in Higher Education，the Collaborative Innovation Center of Chinese Moral Culture，International Society for Value Inquiry，and China National Association for Ethical Studies，the Forum is co-organized by the Society for Values in Higher Education and Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies in Hubei University. Following the First World Culture Development Forum at Hubei University last September，the Forum is the second one. We hope the Forum will be continuously held with more and more influence，and we hope we could advance the development of the world mainstream culture and promote human peace，progress and happiness with the contribution of scholars from different countries in the world.

We all recognize that we are living in an unjust world，which results from different starting points of modernization in different countries. Such injustice makes world’s justice an important human issue，a focus of attention in contemporary world. In the most general sense，world justice means that all the countries，all the regions，and people of the world，as well as contemporary human and our next generations get what they deserve，or what they want. Although people have different views on the specific meaning of the world justice，it is possible for them to reach a general consensus. World justice involves many aspects，such as economic justice，political justice，cultural justice，educational justice，social security justice，and environmental justice，as well as intergenerational justice. Among them，economic justice is the fundamental one，because economic justice is the foundation of other fairness. Without economic justice，there will be no other justice. World injustice is reflected in economy，politics，culture，education，social security，environment，etc.，among which economic injustice is the most obvious one and the main reason of all the other injustice.

Contemporary world economic injustice is mainly embodied in economic imbalance. While economic imbalance finds its expression in the increasingly widening gap between the rich and the poor，between rich countries and poor countries，and between affluent regions and poor regions. The World Bank published a new standard to evaluate the world’s Top Fortune in 2005. According to this new standard，the World Bank conducts an assessment among 118 countries in the world. Among them，with ＄648241 per capita wealth，the Switzerland ranks top，while Ethiopia ranks last，with only ＄1965 per capita wealth. The ten impoverished nations are almost in the southern Sahara Desert，while the richest ten countries except Japan are located in North America and Europe. It is reported that the collective wealth of the world’s richest 300 people is far more than that of the poorest 3 billion people worldwide （almost half the world population）.What is worse，the richest 200 people possess about ＄2.7 trillion，far more than that of the 3.5 billion poorest people whose aggregate wealth is about ＄2.2 trillion.A report of the data also illustrates that the world imbalance exists and will be further intensified in a more crucial way：In recent 20 years，the income of the 1% richest people increases 60%；the financial crisis do not hinder their development，but increase their income，among them the 0.01% richest people enjoy the fastest income increasing. Meanwhile，the gap between the rich and the poor is widening. During the colonial period，the income gap between the rich and the poor countries was widened from 3∶1 to 35∶1，partly because that the European powers plundered the nature resources and labor sources from the southern countries. Now the gap has expanded to nearly 80∶1. In addition，according to the “SOFI” which is jointly issued by the FAO，WFP and IFAD，now people in hunger has been declined. During 2010 to 2012，this figure once reached 868 million. Currently，most worlds’ hungry people live in developing countries，while only 1.57million people live in developed countries. All these facts indicate that poverty has become an undeniable reality. In this case，we can not say that today’s world economy is justice.

Reasons leading to the world economic injustice are complex，and the major 3 reasons are as follows. First，rich countries and regions start modernization in advance or achieve their modernization，while impoverished nations do not achieve their modernization or do not accomplish their modernization. Since modern times，our modernization is built on the basis of market economy. However，in Adam Smith’s view，the market economy is the path to rich and harmonious society. To most countries，achieving modernization means a perfect market economy mechanism has been established. And the countries are on the path to wealthy，while countries which do not realize modernization are usually poor and backward. Second，rich countries and regions enjoy social and political stability，while impoverished nations and regions are mostly in turmoil and long-term wars. Country’s social and political stability is the direct cause deciding its wealthy. Why are impoverished nations so poor？ The direct cause lies in their long-term war，social disorder，and people in times of hardship. Third，the rich countries plunder and penetrate impoverished nations in military，economy，politics，and culture. Studies have shown that the income gap between the rich and the poor has been expanded from 3∶1 in colonial period to today’s 80∶1，partly because that the European powers plunder the nature resources and labor sources from colonies. In modern times，“siphoning” that the world’s wealth one-way flows from the impoverished nation the rich countries has long existed. Governments in rich countries and transnational organizations often promote their assistance to developing countries，but never mention how much wealth they plunder from impoverished nations. Over last decades，the World Bank，International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization and other international institutions promote neoliberal economic policies towards developing countries. The neoliberal economic policies is designed to enforce the market liberalization. However it finally benefits transnational cooperation，bringing them cheap land，natural resources and labor. According to the statistics collected by Robert Pollin （University of Massachusetts），this makes impoverished countries lose about ＄500 billion of GDP annually. This is also one of the major reasons why the economic gap between the rich and the poor is expanded. Why today’s world economic imbalance is so serious，the major reason lies in the above three aspects. To eliminate the extreme imbalance in the world economy and establish economic justice，we must find the root which leads to such imbalance，and establish a relatively balanced world order.

World economic justice does not mean that the world economy is totally balanced，but means a differentiated balance，or reasonable balance. Well，where the reasonable limit for the world economic inequality lies？ I believe that this reasonable limit mainly lies in the following three aspects. First，in today’s market economy，the reasonable imbalance means fair competition. As the market economy has become the basic form of economy in most countries，competition is inevitable，but this competition must be fair. The so-called fair competition means that under fair rules，countries，regions，and each individual （including individuals and companies） compete by strength rather than by their power. Under fair competition，the unequal results should be considered as reasonable in general. Secondly，countries，regions and individuals have formed the pattern of rich or poor，strong or weak. The strong one and relevant international organizations must leave some room for disadvantageous countries，regions and individuals to develop their economy，so that they can shake off poverty through their own efforts and gradually embark on a path of prosperity. Under this condition，the existing imbalance should be regarded as reasonable one. Finally，the United Nations，the World Bank and other international organizations，should take effective measures to guarantee the minimum life security for the poorest and provide necessary conditions for backward countries to boost their economy，so that they can have the access to competition. And after guaranteeing the minimum life security and providing appropriate assistance，the economic imbalance is reasonable. In conclusion，today’s world economic imbalance can only exist in the self-development of，and fair competition among world economic subjects （national，regional and individual）. And the precondition is that they have a basic subsistence. This imbalance is what today’s people may accept，or in other words，this is the economic equality or justice which modern world might achieve. Apparently，this economic equity is still at low level. While the higher level economic justice requires more limitation towards the development of the richest，besides provide the minimum life security and economic support，so that the income pattern of the countries，regions，and individuals turns into “olive shape”.

At the present stage，to build the world economy，we must accomplish the following tasks. First，we must eliminate wars and turmoil. Wars and turmoil are the origin of poverty in many countries. To eliminate poverty，we must eliminate wars first，including national war and international military intervention. As the globalization deepens，both stopping national conflict and international military intervention requires the help of the United Nations. At present，the peacekeeping troops take effect，but their contribution is quiet limited. For countries failed to solve wars，the United Nations should take over by military force，until it achieves social stability. Second，we should eliminate the directly and other kind of plunder and penetration （e.g. in military，culture，ideology） between nations. Today，multinational companies have become the main form for developing countries plundering and penetrating developed countries. On the other hand，the world economic organizations are monopolized by the developed countries，their policies are beneficial to transnational counties. Therefore，sometimes the power of transnational companies surpasses sovereignty. To narrow the gap between the rich and the poor，and to change the current situation，we need to change the rules and create a democratic international supervision mechanism to stop the greed and commercialism. Third，the developed countries，especially related international organizations，should help developing countries boost their economy. Since many developed countries achieve their economic success by plundering developing countries，therefore developed countries have responsibilities and obligations in offering developing countries financial and technical support as well as economic assistance. We should change the current situation that related international organizations are controlled by developed countries，thus making the world economy coordinated and justice. Fourth，the United Nations should provide the minimum living support for all the people living in the poorest countries regardless of the reasons. The United Nations should improve its authority by reform and reorganization，set the poverty line，establish the poverty relief funds by tax，provide basic life guarantee for countries living under the poverty line，and thus decrease and eventually eliminate hungry and poverty in the world. In this way，our world can be a humanitarian world.

Last but not least，I’d like to extend my best wishes to the Forum.

Thanks.