The New World Order—A Trialogue from Behind the Veil of Ignorance
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We have assembled three thought leaders of the world, Ji, Li and Mi. We have lowered the veil of ignorance, and they are behind it. They do not know whether they have been born in a rich country or a poor country, whether they are privileged or deprived. They are presented with a challenge: People, we are in new and uncertain times. Globalization has shrunk the world. Trade and investment barriers are down and falling, until recent retrenchments. Imports flood our countries. Big businesses buy abroad, and export jobs. Automation is shrinking exponentially the number of workers needed for every task. Half of all jobs are at serious risk of disappearance by reason of automation. Business concentration is increasing, even while the new generation of technological whizzes build viral edifices in garages. Huge mergers that reach to the ends of the earth are cleared as to-competitive by competition authorities around the world, even though they consolidate industries into two or three players. Prices of life-saving drugs soar hundreds of percentage points at the will of the patent holders. Meanwhile, inequality indexes spike, incomes of the rich and enabled soar, and personal mobility is static or reduced. In the wake of 2008, then Brexit, and then Trump, nations harbor a new spirit of nationalism and parochialism, threatening progress towards a more open and inclusive world. Figures say that millions of people have been lifted out of poverty by freer trade and competition (meaning that the poverty-stricken households make fraction more rather than a fraction less than $1.90 a day) and even these gains are at risk of eclipse by the re-closing of national frontiers. It is to this world of dark clouds, mixed signals and ambiguous patterns of ist rising on the altars of the sibyls that we call you together at this retreat on the top of Mount Olympus. You are the competition, and trade-and-competition, policy thinkers of the world. But all is not right in the world of competition, so some people say. We ask you, what is the problem? What is the answer? Are these omens from the gods a competition problem at all—or are some rogues, whether from false ideology, wrong information, or self-interest, trying to place on the lack of competition policy the societal burdens of the world? You may lounge and reflect at this lodge on Mount Olympus until you, under some veil of ignorance, come to conclusions about the real competition problems of the world and how to solve them. Then you must report your answers to the most honorable Professor Joel Moneger, who will set about to implement the solutions—so, mind you, the solutions must be implementable. Then we will lift the veil of ignorance. As Ji, Li and Mi assemble for their task, we flash back to just before the veil fell. We see that Ji is from an industrialized country and represents large corporations; Li is from a poor developing country, was a former competition official and works in a non-governmental organization, and Mi is an academic hailing from an emerging economy. But under the veil of ignorance, our experts do not recall their backgrounds. They agree to lay out the questions and seek the answers. Just as they settle in, they meet a sybil on a patch of dirt near a steamy geyser. Barefoot, she is dancing in circles, her head lowered in a trance. They say, “Oh Sybil, the micro-economic problems of the world have just been placed on our shoulders. What is the answer?” The sybil, dancing furiously, lifts her head only slightly. She says: “Equity is equity and power is power.” “What does it mean?” says Li to Ji and Mi. They all discuss what the Sybil meant and each has a different interpretation. Then the three experts enter the lodge and begin their deliberations. Ji: I do not understand at all why we have been called together. What is the problem? Life is messy. Competition is messy. Economic life has its joys and its ills; its winners and losers. The ills can be serious. But that is not our problem. Li: We have to consider, what is the problem. Mi: I see two sets of questions. Let us start with the first—What are the antitrust/market harms in the world that are not solved by our existing competition laws and institutions, in spite of our intense modes of cooperation? If they exist, how should we solve them? Then we reach the second set: Our leader has reminded us of the sad social conditions in the world of deep poverty and increasing inequality. Are these a competition problem? Do they have a competition solution? What can competition law do? All agree to the plan
Source Publication
Liber Amicorum en l'honneur du Professeur Joël Monéger
Source Editors/Authors
Thibaut Massart, Abdoulaye Mbotaingar
Publication Date
2017
Recommended Citation
Fox, Eleanor M., "The New World Order—A Trialogue from Behind the Veil of Ignorance" (2017). Faculty Chapters. 1219.
https://gretchen.law.nyu.edu/fac-chapt/1219
