Summary
Highlights
Larry Kramer welcomes the audience to the LSE festival, highlighting the theme of exploring visions for the future, particularly regarding governance and the challenges faced by liberal democracy.
Kramer notes that this century has been less hospitable to democratic governments, with the number of democracies decreasing. Liberal democracy faces an uncertain future, even in places where it was thought to be deeply established.
Kramer introduces Daron Acemoglu as an expert on political and economic development, inequality, institutions, social policy, and the social consequences of technology, highlighting his numerous publications and awards, including the Nobel Prize in economics.
Acemoglu introduces his upcoming book, "Remaking Liberalism," explaining that liberalism needs to be re-evaluated due to emerging problems.
Acemoglu outlines three promises implicit in liberalism: shared prosperity (economic growth benefiting all), public services (access for all), and voice (effective self-government).
Acemoglu argues that new ideas are now coming from the anti-liberal right, and liberalism has failed to adjust to being the establishment and the post-industrial world.
Acemoglu explains the philosophical underpinnings of liberalism's success – individuals making choices, interacting with their communities, sharing ideas, and working together, with an emphasis on local government.
Liberalism stands for experimentation and freedom (of expression, thought, and action), community involvement, and economic growth with constraints.
The success in the 20th century was because firms introduced new technologies, new ways of producing in order to reach bigger markets, which needs more labor. As they require more labor that increases wages and that creates the pathway towards shared prosperity.
The failure starts with the introduction of digital technologies. Technologies complimentary to skilled educated workers. Firms can produce more without increasing the demand for labor, especially low-educated workers. Inequality has exploded.
This era is marked by the rise and divergence of the college-educated, who start viewing themselves as distinct from the rest of society, severing their links with other communities.
The college-educated group has a big heterogeneity. The cognitive elite who graduate from elite institutions. The rest who are not the college educated. Those have the same aspirations to the status, higher jobs, but to a large extent they're not achieving heights as the cognitive elite.
A new coalition with tech wanted to hve a much tougher line, but by top down try to change the values of communities, you are damaging the communities and destroying the basis of self-government. It creates backlash.
This vision should be tolerant to the diversity of communities and prioritizes economic growth, especially job creation.
In response to a question about race, Acemoglu acknowledges the trade-offs between community values and racial integration. He suggests the limits would be if a community completely abridges the freedoms of its members.
In response to a question about neoliberalism, Acemoglu refers to deregulation and the shifting of power from labor unions towards big corporations. But says in the grand scheme of things, it did have very important consequences.
Acemoglu says that shared history is the center piece of building community. There are two types, the faith communities and people who have the same values.
Acemoglu thinks that attitudes towards immigration are going to change as population declines. Now I think as population declines the attitudes towards immigration are going to change because uh many countries especially in Europe but to some extent even the United States will have labor shortages. So then it will be easier to reach some sort of agreement on immigration that was much harder when there isn't as much shortage of labor.
The discussion concludes with thanks to the speaker and audience, reinforcing the importance of self-government.