Festival of Economics

Let’s start from our title: Information, choices and development. Information, in plural. A cry for a plurality of sources, index of democracy.

Internet, television, radio, newspapers, satellites, mobile phones, blogs, social networks, decoders, there are more than enough devices.

We have read, seen and heard everything, for example, about the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, avian flu and swine flu, of immigrants, clandestine immigration and criminals. And then we find out that: weapons of mass destruction have never existed and Bin Laden is nowhere to be found; shaking hands with a colleague or enjoying a chicken wing dinner is not all that risky; official statistics indicate a decline in the number of crimes committed in Italy and 10% of national GDP is thanks to the work of immigrants.

The problem is not lack of information or accessibility. It is, perhaps instead, a matter of quality and truth.

An overdose of information is not necessary good information and being mislead has its costs. It makes you wonder whether knowing less is more ignorant than knowing a lot but badly. And, as we already know, misinformation can become a business.

A misinformed consumer is more profitable. Whoever produced and sold thousands of influenza A vaccines is still there grinning while packs and packs of antidotes are expiring in warehouses.

Financial statements kept secret, not very transparent markets and mismatching information led to the 2008 economic crash. This crisis that made few wealthier and got almost everyone into hot water is, in the end, a story of misinformation.

Political consent in itself is founded often on the ability to transmit a certain kind of information and create a certain kind of image. As George Lakoff teaches us: the frame of the product is more powerful than the product in itself. This is why, in Italy, an immigrant is synonymous to a clandestine, in other words a criminal and the problem of security is that foreigners have become a threat to Italian security.

Even Boeri said that, in the era of computerisation, power is held in the hands of those who have the ability to control through images and perceptions.

And this is why, bridging the information-technology gap between the north and south of the world (digital divide), internet, mobile phones and laptops for everyone can be double-edged.

Certainly, a resource: for example, the UN plan to set up ten thousand online websites in hospitals and clinics throughout the global south to provide access to up-to-date medical-sanitary information in real-time. However, widespread knowledge could also be at the same time a mask of impositions of functional economic models of development for biased interests.

Focusing on the title of this edition of the Festival of Economics we could say: Information, choices and development, with responsibility. Rights and responsibilities for those who produce and spread knowledge. But also for those who benefit from it.

A recent study demonstrates that only 2% of Italians actually know the state of the country’s last biennial GDP and those who have a radio or internet are more informed than those who just leave the task of education to television. The latter, says the study, influences much of our behaviour. Television is a bad teacher, wrote Popper.

But also responsible, individual and collective choices. From the powerful to the individual citizen, through businesses and local administration, our behaviour greatly influences the quality of life of present and future generations. And talking about the future, responsible choices lead to responsible development. Fair and sustainable, in other words.

A note. During the 2010 edition of the Festival of Economics, one of the topics to be discussed, are concerns regarding and involving the global south: multiethnic society, immigration, climate change, alternative economy, education, digital divide, indicators of wellbeing.

We will listen to the voice of Indian Isher Judge Ahluwalia, who will speak to us about measures of support for a qualitative improvement of compulsory education in India; to the voice of  Jigmi Y. Thinley, first prime minister democratically elected in Buthan, who launched the GPD challenge, preferring indicators of wellbeing based on happiness as perceived by his country’s citizens; as well as Ory Okolloh’s voice, Kenyan activist and blogger, who will analyse the importance of internet as a means to participate more fully in cultural and scientific life.

These are only a few of the voices of the global south. One thing is speaking of someone, another, much more interesting and constructive, is speaking with someone. As we wish the Festival of Economics long life, let’s keep this in mind.

Andrea Dalla Palma

From www.unimondo.org