BY HAYDEE LEON MOYA —Granma International staff writer—

REAFFIRMING itself as the stage for profound analysis of the greatest problems on a planetary scale, the 10th Conference of World Economists on Globalization and Problems of Development that took place recently in Havana, was also consolidated as a forum in which there is increasingly greater space for differences of opinions.

More than 1,300 economists and specialists from other social disciplines from 55 countries and 24 international organizations extended the convention on this occasion, in the context of which the General Assembly of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association declared Fidel Castro an honorary member of this organization in recognition of his personal contribution to this meeting of challenges and learning. Among the most outstanding individuals present was Canadian Robert Mundell, Nobel Prize winner in 1999, who opened up the debate during the inaugural session after his lecture on "Management of the Global Economy." Unlike the fairly generalized opinion of many of the experts from various countries on the crisis facing the U.S. economy, his vision of the issue is very optimistic.

Considered one of the most influential economists of contemporary times, a collaborator of U.S. President Ronald Reagan, advisor to the European Economic Community and one of the founding fathers of the euro, Mundell acknowledged the crisis of the monetary system imposed at Bretton Woods in 1945, which gave supremacy to the dollar as a worldwide currency. Today, confidence in greenbacks has been lost but, he affirmed, there will be a recovery of the economy from the third trimester, after six months of stagnation.

He said that the crisis in the United States should not be over-dramatized, nor should the fall in value of the dollar, given that the system can assimilate it. However, he acknowledged that a global deceleration that lasts too long could lead to a worldwide economic crisis.

One of his most outstanding proposals was for the INTOR, a new international currency based on a basket integrating the dollar, euro, yen and pound sterling, which would set the bases for a renewed monetary system on the planet.

He talked of the emergence of China as an economic power as a result of changes initiated in 1978, which transformed it into a socialist economy of the market and highlighted how the process was undertaken from state enterprises, unlike other countries that, following the neoliberal path, dismantled the public sector.

U.S. HEADING FOR RECESSION

Meanwhile, Mark Weisbrot, director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, confirmed that the United States is heading for a recession after two consecutive trimesters of a deceleration in the economy. This situation will lead to reduced employment and raise the number of people living on the poverty line in this country. The impact will be particularly serious for Mexico and Canada, who are highly dependent on exchange with the United States, he assured.

He recalled that in the last 10 years, people in certain regions of Latin America have voted for change at election times, given the disappearance of economic growth, something that has been particularly marked since the 1980s. The specialist gave the example of Venezuela: "That nation has had sustained economic growth, has taken control of its oil, set aside money for healthcare and education for the people, offered credits to other poor countries, lifted millions of people out of poverty and stabilized inflation. This separation from neoliberalism will continue to be emphasized in the coming years and other countries will increasingly understand that this dependency on the United States is no good for them, which will lead to political change, something that has not occurred in the region for 150 years," he affirmed.

Academics such as Mexican Oscar Ugarteche, Chilean Orlando Caputo and Belgian Eric Toussaint, president of the Committee to Cancel the Third World Debt, were all in agreement when suggesting that the essential factor is that this is not just an economic matter, but one of justice: "given that we are burdening the rest of the world with a problem that is not ours; for that reason we must change the global order in order to produce a more just one."

Caputo placed the issue within the context of the structural crisis that capitalism is currently suffering, noting that there have been six cyclical crisis in the last 30 years. The one that is looming could be the worst yet with the most catastrophic consequences, given the phenomenon of globalization and the control exercised by transnationals producing goods and services, in the main from the United States.

The U.S. crisis over high-risk (subprime) mortgages is a serious problem and should not be taken lightly, warned Caputo, confirming that although the system will modify or absorb it, the distortions are so profound that, in the end, the solution will need to be a revolutionary one.

Another individual who stood out during this meeting on globalization was U.S. academic Eric S. Maskin, winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize for Economic Science, who gave a lecture enitled: "Why haven’t global markets reduced inequity?," in which he maintained that globalization has caused tremendous social inequality in many countries in Latin America and the world.

He gave examples of how this phenomenon originates from the internationalization of production itself, given that the wage of a worker in the United States is greater than that of a Mexican worker even when the two of them take part in manufacturing the same product, which their countries will import in the end. The U.S. expert explained that raising educational levels could help the poor to become part of this kind of joint production.

BIOFUELS IN THE CONTEXT OF GLOBALIZATION

Participants in the event devoted several days to an analysis of the consequences of the use of biofuels at the expense of foodstuffs and the environment.

Emilio Romero, from the Autonomous University of Mexico, tackled the issue, stating that the United States has provoked an increase in the price of basic grains, particularly corn, by promoting this energy matrix in order to satisfy the desires of its own automobile industry. He referred to the serious situation that this will create for poor countries in the so-called Third World, who depend on these basic crops to feed their peoples.

He gave the example of Mexico which fell "into the trap of neglecting its alimentary self-sufficiency and is now obliged to purchase 10 million tons of corn in order to respond to internal demand. The oversight in terms of producing these foodstuffs is intensifying poverty, increasing migration, malnutrition, drug trafficking and generating dangerous situations for the social and political stability of his country.

THE WORLD BANK: A NEVER-ENDING COUP D’ÉTAT

This is the title of the book by Belgian Eric Toussaint that was launched at the economists’ forum, in which he acknowledges that proposals by the World Bank were designed to impose the economic and financial leadership of the United States on a planetary scale. Published by El Viejo Topo from Barcelona in 2006, the book brings together a comprehensive study of how the World Bank contributes more to strengthening developed countries’ control over developing ones.

According to the author, for almost 20 years international financial institutions and the governments of creditor nations "have played an ambiguous and destructive game consisting of commanding the economies of the Third World and imposing unpopular economic policies on certain countries, hoping that the bitter pill of macro-economic adjustment will allow them to find the road to prosperity and the absence of debts.

The World Bank, together with the IMF, are the two most important tools of neoliberalism and the best example of this is that the neoliberal model, after having been imposed with the help of dictatorships, has been maintained thanks to the yoke of debt and permanent structural adjustment.

SPECIAL MOMENT

After five days of debate, and on behalf of all the participants, Argentine academic Atilio Borón read a message to Fidel Castro in which he wished him "a full recovery and congratulations for the first 10 years of this event, "which was your idea and that brings us together every year."

In a speech at the end of the conference, Roberto Berrier invited those present to return to Havana from March 2 and 6, 2009.