Golden billion
Encyclopedia
The golden billion is a term, popular in the Russian
-speaking world, referring to the relatively wealthy people in industrially developed nations
, or the West
.
, the golden billion consumes the lion's share of all resources on the planet. If at least half of the global population begins to consume resources to the same extent, these resources wouldn't be sufficient. This is partly based on the ideas of Thomas Malthus
, in that emphasis is placed on the scarcity of natural resources. However, whereas Malthus was mostly concerned with finite global crop yields, anti-globalists that advocate the idea of a 'golden billion' are mostly concerned with finite natural resources such as fossil fuels and metal. According to Kara-Murza, the developed countries, while preserving for their nationals a high level of consumption, endorse political, military and economic measures designed to keep the rest of the world in an industrially undeveloped state, and as a raw material appendage area for the dumping of hazardous waste and as a source of cheap labor.
The theory which holds that the wealth of the West, including that of the lower classes, is mostly based on exploitation of the former colonies in the third world
is not new in Russia, where it was first popularized by Vladimir Lenin
, in Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism
. Lenin described the relationship between capitalism
and imperialism
, wherein the merging of banks and industrial cartels produces finance capital
. The final, imperialist stage of capitalism, originates in the financial
function of generating greater profits than the home market can yield; thus, business exports (excess) capital
, which, in due course, leads to the economic division of the world among international business monopolies, and imperial European states colonising large portions of the world to generate investment profits.
Whereas Lenin and other Marxist anti-imperialists such as Immanuel Wallerstein
called for an end to the domination of developed nations through international communism, Kara-Murza and his contemporaries in Russia believe that a restriction of free trade
(especially with the West), and various methods of state intervention in the economy is the best solution. This economic rationale for protectionism
dates back to the early United States, and is known as the infant industry argument
. The crux of the argument
is that nascent industries
often do not have the economies of scale
that their older competitors from other countries may have, and thus need to be protected until they can attain similar economies of scale. The argument was first explicated by Alexander Hamilton
in his 1790 Report on Manufactures
, was systematically developed by Daniel Raymond
, and was later picked up by Friedrich List
in his 1841 work The National System of Political Economy, following his exposure to the idea during his residence in the United States in the 1820s.
The differences in incomes in first-world countries and third-world countries cannot be explained by differences in individual productivity. For example, the Caterpillar
(CAT) factory in Tosno
, Russia
has the highest productivity of all CAT factories in Europe, but the workers are paid about an order of magnitude less. The difference is even more startling when comparing the wages of textile
workers in United States
factories and in China
sweatshop
s. This means that the multinational corporation
s appropriate a disproportionally high share of the surplus value
in "developing" countries. The argument usually holds that the continuation of this exploitation retards the development and prosperity of the developing nations. Hence, globalization
and modern capitalism
benefit mostly the golden billion, while people in the so-called "developing" countries are getting the short end of the stick.
- that there are enough resources for only one billion wealthy people on earth. The term was later popularized by Russian writer Sergey Kara-Murza
.
s channeling wealth from poorer countries to richer ones dictates that the gap will not diminish.
Available data indicates convergence of income for many developing countries.
In his book The Ultimate Resource
Julian Simon
offers view that scarcity of physical resources can be overcome by human mind.
For example the argument of scarcity of oil could be overcome by some of energy development
strategies, such as use of synthetic fuels.
Concerning exploitation of the former colonies Gregory Clark
notes
"Yet generations of research by economic historians - David Landes, Deirdre McCloskey, and Joel Mokyr, among others - show that the wealth of the West was homegrown, the result of a stream of Western technological advances since the Industrial Revolution") .
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
-speaking world, referring to the relatively wealthy people in industrially developed nations
Developed country
A developed country is a country that has a high level of development according to some criteria. Which criteria, and which countries are classified as being developed, is a contentious issue...
, or the West
Western world
The Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term referring to the countries of Western Europe , the countries of the Americas, as well all countries of Northern and Central Europe, Australia and New Zealand...
.
Explanation
According to Sergey Kara-MurzaKara-Murza
Kara-Murza is a Russian surname of Tatar origin translated as "Black Lord". Kara Murza was a Tatar aristocrat who converted to Christianity after settling in Moscow in the 15th century...
, the golden billion consumes the lion's share of all resources on the planet. If at least half of the global population begins to consume resources to the same extent, these resources wouldn't be sufficient. This is partly based on the ideas of Thomas Malthus
Thomas Malthus
The Reverend Thomas Robert Malthus FRS was an English scholar, influential in political economy and demography. Malthus popularized the economic theory of rent....
, in that emphasis is placed on the scarcity of natural resources. However, whereas Malthus was mostly concerned with finite global crop yields, anti-globalists that advocate the idea of a 'golden billion' are mostly concerned with finite natural resources such as fossil fuels and metal. According to Kara-Murza, the developed countries, while preserving for their nationals a high level of consumption, endorse political, military and economic measures designed to keep the rest of the world in an industrially undeveloped state, and as a raw material appendage area for the dumping of hazardous waste and as a source of cheap labor.
The theory which holds that the wealth of the West, including that of the lower classes, is mostly based on exploitation of the former colonies in the third world
Third World
The term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either capitalism and NATO , or communism and the Soviet Union...
is not new in Russia, where it was first popularized by Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years , as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a...
, in Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism
Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism
Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism , by Lenin, describes the function of financial capital in generating profits from imperial colonialism, as the final stage of capitalist development to ensure greater profits...
. Lenin described the relationship between capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
and imperialism
Imperialism
Imperialism, as defined by Dictionary of Human Geography, is "the creation and/or maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural, and territorial relationships, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination." The imperialism of the last 500 years,...
, wherein the merging of banks and industrial cartels produces finance capital
Financial capital
Financial capital can refer to money used by entrepreneurs and businesses to buy what they need to make their products or provide their services or to that sector of the economy based on its operation, i.e. retail, corporate, investment banking, etc....
. The final, imperialist stage of capitalism, originates in the financial
Finance
"Finance" is often defined simply as the management of money or “funds” management Modern finance, however, is a family of business activity that includes the origination, marketing, and management of cash and money surrogates through a variety of capital accounts, instruments, and markets created...
function of generating greater profits than the home market can yield; thus, business exports (excess) capital
Capital (economics)
In economics, capital, capital goods, or real capital refers to already-produced durable goods used in production of goods or services. The capital goods are not significantly consumed, though they may depreciate in the production process...
, which, in due course, leads to the economic division of the world among international business monopolies, and imperial European states colonising large portions of the world to generate investment profits.
Whereas Lenin and other Marxist anti-imperialists such as Immanuel Wallerstein
Immanuel Wallerstein
Immanuel Maurice Wallerstein is a US sociologist, historical social scientist, and world-systems analyst...
called for an end to the domination of developed nations through international communism, Kara-Murza and his contemporaries in Russia believe that a restriction of free trade
Free trade
Under a free trade policy, prices emerge from supply and demand, and are the sole determinant of resource allocation. 'Free' trade differs from other forms of trade policy where the allocation of goods and services among trading countries are determined by price strategies that may differ from...
(especially with the West), and various methods of state intervention in the economy is the best solution. This economic rationale for protectionism
Protectionism
Protectionism is the economic policy of restraining trade between states through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, restrictive quotas, and a variety of other government regulations designed to allow "fair competition" between imports and goods and services produced domestically.This...
dates back to the early United States, and is known as the infant industry argument
Infant industry argument
The Infant industry argument is an economic rationale for trade protectionism. The core of the argument is that nascent industries often do not have the economies of scale that their older competitors from other countries may have, and thus need to be protected until they can attain similar...
. The crux of the argument
Argument
In philosophy and logic, an argument is an attempt to persuade someone of something, or give evidence or reasons for accepting a particular conclusion.Argument may also refer to:-Mathematics and computer science:...
is that nascent industries
Infant industry
In economics, an infant industry is a new industry, which in its early stages is unable to compete with established competitors abroad.Governments are sometimes urged to support the development of infant industries, usually through subsidies or tariffs...
often do not have the economies of scale
Economies of scale
Economies of scale, in microeconomics, refers to the cost advantages that an enterprise obtains due to expansion. There are factors that cause a producer’s average cost per unit to fall as the scale of output is increased. "Economies of scale" is a long run concept and refers to reductions in unit...
that their older competitors from other countries may have, and thus need to be protected until they can attain similar economies of scale. The argument was first explicated by Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton was a Founding Father, soldier, economist, political philosopher, one of America's first constitutional lawyers and the first United States Secretary of the Treasury...
in his 1790 Report on Manufactures
Report on Manufactures
The Report on Manufactures is the third report, and magnum opus, of American Founding Father and 1st U.S. Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton...
, was systematically developed by Daniel Raymond
Daniel Raymond
Daniel Raymond was the first important political economist to appear in the United States.He authored Thoughts on Political Economy and The Elements of Political Economy .- Economic theory :...
, and was later picked up by Friedrich List
Friedrich List
Georg Friedrich List was a leading 19th century German economist who developed the "National System" or what some would call today the National System of Innovation...
in his 1841 work The National System of Political Economy, following his exposure to the idea during his residence in the United States in the 1820s.
The differences in incomes in first-world countries and third-world countries cannot be explained by differences in individual productivity. For example, the Caterpillar
Caterpillar Inc.
Caterpillar Inc. , also known as "CAT", designs, manufactures, markets and sells machinery and engines and sells financial products and insurance to customers via a worldwide dealer network. Caterpillar is the world's largest manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas...
(CAT) factory in Tosno
Tosno
Tosno is a town and the administrative center of Tosnensky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the Tosna River, southeast of St. Petersburg. Population:...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
has the highest productivity of all CAT factories in Europe, but the workers are paid about an order of magnitude less. The difference is even more startling when comparing the wages of textile
Textile
A textile or cloth is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, or other material to produce long strands...
workers in United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
factories and in China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
sweatshop
Sweatshop
Sweatshop is a negatively connoted term for any working environment considered to be unacceptably difficult or dangerous. Sweatshop workers often work long hours for very low pay, regardless of laws mandating overtime pay or a minimum wage. Child labour laws may be violated. Sweatshops may have...
s. This means that the multinational corporation
Multinational corporation
A multi national corporation or enterprise , is a corporation or an enterprise that manages production or delivers services in more than one country. It can also be referred to as an international corporation...
s appropriate a disproportionally high share of the surplus value
Surplus value
Surplus value is a concept used famously by Karl Marx in his critique of political economy. Although Marx did not himself invent the term, he developed the concept...
in "developing" countries. The argument usually holds that the continuation of this exploitation retards the development and prosperity of the developing nations. Hence, globalization
Globalization
Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...
and modern capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
benefit mostly the golden billion, while people in the so-called "developing" countries are getting the short end of the stick.
History
The term was coined by A.Kuzmich (Anatoly Tsikunov) in his book The Plot of World Government: Russia and the Golden Billion, and used in his articles. The main idea behind this term was taken from Limits to GrowthLimits to Growth
The Limits to Growth is a 1972 book modeling the consequences of a rapidly growing world population and finite resource supplies, commissioned by the Club of Rome. Its authors were Donella H. Meadows, Dennis L. Meadows, Jørgen Randers, and William W. Behrens III. The book used the World3 model to...
- that there are enough resources for only one billion wealthy people on earth. The term was later popularized by Russian writer Sergey Kara-Murza
Sergey Kara-Murza
Sergey Georgyevich Kara-Murza is a Soviet and Russian chemist, historian, political philosopher and sociologist.Sergey Kara-Murza was graduated with degree in chemistry from Moscow State University in 1961...
.
Opponents of the concept
Opponents of the concept often invoke market efficiency to argue that free trade and capitalism will make everybody wealthy eventually. Proponents counter that the ongoing process of multinational corporationMultinational corporation
A multi national corporation or enterprise , is a corporation or an enterprise that manages production or delivers services in more than one country. It can also be referred to as an international corporation...
s channeling wealth from poorer countries to richer ones dictates that the gap will not diminish.
Available data indicates convergence of income for many developing countries.
In his book The Ultimate Resource
The Ultimate Resource
The Ultimate Resource is a 1981 book written by Julian Lincoln Simon challenging the notion that humanity was running out of natural resources...
Julian Simon
Julian Simon
Julian Simon is the American economist.Julian Simon also may refer to:* Julián Simón , Spanish motorcycle racer...
offers view that scarcity of physical resources can be overcome by human mind.
For example the argument of scarcity of oil could be overcome by some of energy development
Energy development
Energy development is the effort to provide sufficient primary energy sources and secondary energy forms for supply, cost, impact on air pollution and water pollution, mitigation of climate change with renewable energy....
strategies, such as use of synthetic fuels.
Concerning exploitation of the former colonies Gregory Clark
Gregory Clark (economist)
Gregory Clark is an economic historian at the University of California, Davis.-Biography:Clark, whose grandfathers were migrants to Scotland from Ireland, earned his B.A. in economics and philosophy at King's College, Cambridge in 1979 and his Ph.D. at Harvard in 1985...
notes
"Yet generations of research by economic historians - David Landes, Deirdre McCloskey, and Joel Mokyr, among others - show that the wealth of the West was homegrown, the result of a stream of Western technological advances since the Industrial Revolution") .