Toward the end of last week the Caux Round Table (CRT) tweeted that Asian millionaires have overtaken European millionaires. That isn’t too surprising; Asia does contain about half the world’s population, and Asian economies have captured the world’s fleeting attention thanks to consistently strong economic growth and dramatic reductions in poverty. What really caught my attention was how that fact went in tandem with the second half of the tweet: “Power is shifting east.”
Does political empowerment follow economic empowerment? CRT’s tweet echoes the sentiment that it does. When you have a larger share of the economic pie, others take you more seriously. In earlier historical periods the only way to get a bigger share was by conquering another country. Although there is still tragic violence in the world today, there are many more examples of growing a country’s share of the economic pie without taking from another.
Even if you are critical of Asia’s largely state-guided capitalism, it’s hard to deny that Asian countries’ growing economic importance has boosted their political importance without having conquered anyone. The notion that you can achieve economic empowerment without resorting to violence and aggression is good news for the poor and marginalized everywhere.
Power hasn’t just shifted east; it has also shifted downward. Measured in economic activity per person, Asia’s economies remain far below those in the west. While U.S. per capita GDP is $46,400 in locally-adjusted dollars, China’s skyrocketing per capita GDP is still just $6,600. India’s is only $3,100. Yet poorer countries, thanks in part to larger populations, are starting to leverage greater cumulative economic weight in their political favor. Who was the guest of honor at U.S. President Barack Obama’s first state dinner? Not the British Prime Minister. Not the German Chancellor. It was the Indian Prime Minister.
Political empowerment through economic empowerment can also happen on a smaller scale. As entrepreneurs in the world’s poorest communities struggle past legal and cultural impediments to local economic empowerment, those that have done so can take responsibility to leverage greater economic influence in many ways, including to demand protection of human rights, corruption-free public service delivery, and perhaps most importantly removing the original barriers to economic empowerment. Every local economy can lend itself as an engine of social change.
To call attention to power shifting east in light of Asian millionaires for the first time overtaking European millionaires, suggests that economic progress can indeed be a powerful engine for broader political and social progress. That goes for the world’s largest countries as well as the world’s poorest communities.
Published Date: June 29, 2010