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under absolute advantage that under comparative advantage), and that
national community can safely be abstracted from.
If the IMF explicitly embraces the globally individualistic view then
the IMF has 18 problem. The IMF is a federation and exists to serve the
interests of its members. The problem is that the IMF's members are
nations, not individuals, not even cosmopolitan individuals, nor global
corporate "individuals". By pushing the liberalization of both the capital
and the current accounts, the IMF has been subverting the independence
of its member countries, and serving thereby the cosmopolitan vision of a
single, integrated, global economy (i.e., globalization). It has abandoned
the vision of its charter, a federation of nations cooperating as sovereign
units to advance their common national interests (i.e.,
internationalization). The current drive to amend the IMF charter to
include capital account management (read liberalization) just makes de
jure the existing de facto efforts to undercut the national foundations of
its charter. The IMF's goal, and that of the World Bank and WTO. is
globalization (erasure of national boundaries for economic purposes)---
not internationalization as envisaged at Bretton Woods. The difference is 31
big one. Many simply do not realize that global integration implies
national disintegration-that to integrate the global omelette you have to
disintegrate the national eggs. But some of the protestors in Seattle
understood.
If the IMF officially adopts the view that comparative advantage does
not matter, that only the global gains from trade matter, and
consequently that absolute advantage should displace comparative
advantage as the rule, then the IMF really should explain to its member
countries that their interests as national communities are no longer of
concern to the IMF's cosmopolitan bureaucrat-economists If the IMF no
longer serves the interests of its member nations as envisioned in its
charter, then whose interests is it serving?
The facile answer is that it is serving "global efficiency". As indicated
above this claim has a theoretical basis. But one that is both insufficient
on its own terms, and very likely to be cancelled by the following
consideration. Under globalization the market favors standards-lowering
competition. Therefore capital will move to countries that produce with
the lowest social and environmental standards-countries that do the
poorest job of internalizing environmental and social costs into prices.
Consequently, globalization results in a larger share of world product
being produced under regimes that do the worst job of counting costs.
2
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"ocrText": "under absolute advantage that under comparative advantage), and that\nnational community can safely be abstracted from.\nIf the IMF explicitly embraces the globally individualistic view then\nthe IMF has 18 problem. The IMF is a federation and exists to serve the\ninterests of its members. The problem is that the IMF's members are\nnations, not individuals, not even cosmopolitan individuals, nor global\ncorporate \"individuals\". By pushing the liberalization of both the capital\nand the current accounts, the IMF has been subverting the independence\nof its member countries, and serving thereby the cosmopolitan vision of a\nsingle, integrated, global economy (i.e., globalization). It has abandoned\nthe vision of its charter, a federation of nations cooperating as sovereign\nunits to advance their common national interests (i.e.,\ninternationalization). The current drive to amend the IMF charter to\ninclude capital account management (read liberalization) just makes de\njure the existing de facto efforts to undercut the national foundations of\nits charter. The IMF's goal, and that of the World Bank and WTO. is\nglobalization (erasure of national boundaries for economic purposes)---\nnot internationalization as envisaged at Bretton Woods. The difference is 31\nbig one. Many simply do not realize that global integration implies\nnational disintegration-that to integrate the global omelette you have to\ndisintegrate the national eggs. But some of the protestors in Seattle\nunderstood.\nIf the IMF officially adopts the view that comparative advantage does\nnot matter, that only the global gains from trade matter, and\nconsequently that absolute advantage should displace comparative\nadvantage as the rule, then the IMF really should explain to its member\ncountries that their interests as national communities are no longer of\nconcern to the IMF's cosmopolitan bureaucrat-economists If the IMF no\nlonger serves the interests of its member nations as envisioned in its\ncharter, then whose interests is it serving?\nThe facile answer is that it is serving \"global efficiency\". As indicated\nabove this claim has a theoretical basis. But one that is both insufficient\non its own terms, and very likely to be cancelled by the following\nconsideration. Under globalization the market favors standards-lowering\ncompetition. Therefore capital will move to countries that produce with\nthe lowest social and environmental standards-countries that do the\npoorest job of internalizing environmental and social costs into prices.\nConsequently, globalization results in a larger share of world product\nbeing produced under regimes that do the worst job of counting costs.\n2"
}