We need to learn to work with political systems that are not perfect instead of taking the view: let's first fix the politics, then we'll fix the rest.
Abhijit BanerjeeRead
One problem with globalisation is that bad ideas seem to travel faster than good ones; first there was smearing tomato ketchup on everything; then drinking sugar-soaked cocktails ('Cosmo'-politanism) instead of our traditional whisky soda, and now this idea that we should abandon the poor to their fate in order to protect their dignity.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Globalisation can spread harmful ideas more rapidly than beneficial ones.
Abhijit Banerjee critiques globalisation by highlighting how negative concepts can quickly gain popularity, overshadowing positive traditions. He points out that this trend has led to a misguided notion that abandoning the poor is somehow a way to protect their dignity, illustrating the dangers of adopting flawed ideas without critical scrutiny.
Themes
GlobalisationIdeasCultureTraditionPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the impacts of globalisation, one might reference this quote to discuss the spread of negative cultural trends.
More from Abhijit Banerjee
All quotes →Here is an entirely banal idea that I think has the potential to change the world: Take evidence seriously. Taking evidence seriously does not mean privileging numbers over all other forms of knowledge - theories, narratives, images. Nor does it mean the kind of radical skepticism that questions everything to the point where no action is possible.
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In the development business doing something for both women and the environment is the equivalent of holding a royal flush in poker.
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Will we make all poverty history? No. But can we solve some of these extreme and egregious forms of poverty? I think yes, and we should.
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The Korean government is the first to declare that if you replace people with machines you have to pay a tax. It's a tax on robots. They make private companies internalise the social cost of unemployment. Social benefit is not the same as private benefit. We have to realise this.
Abhijit BanerjeeRead
Most farmers know that their children's future will probably not be in agriculture, but they have a hard time imagining a different life.
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