CAPITALISM IN ASIA: WHAT IT MEANS FOR SRI LANKA

Capitalism in Asia has had an astoundingly successful run since the 1950s, especially in East Asia, with China now at its centre, and, to a lesser extent, in South Asia. What will be Asian capitalism’s challenges in the next half-century? And what will it mean for Sri Lanka?"

Date : Tuesday, 19th June 2018
Time :  5.30 PM to 8.00 PM
Venue : Sri Lanka Foundation Institute Auditorium, Colombo 07

"I will look at the three faces – or trimurti – of Asian capitalism: economic, political, and global.
 
First, its economic face. So far Asia has had successful “catch-up” growth based on mobilising labour and capital, and imitating what the West has already done. Poor Asia (low-income and lower middle-income Asia) still has much room for catch-up growth. But Middle and Rich Asia (upper middle-income and upper-income Asia) have either exhausted catch-up growth or come close to exhausting it. Their challenge is to innovate, to move to more productivity-based growth. They need the “creative destruction” of “Schumpeterian” capitalism. So what are their innovation challenges?
 
Second, Asian capitalism’s political face. What are the varieties of institutions that underpin Asian capitalism? Are they equipped to move to Schumpeterian capitalism? What are the obstacles? Is Schumpeterian capitalism possible in a Chinese-style autocracy? Or does it need Western-style liberal democracy and “open societies”?
 
And third, Asian capitalism’s global face. Asian capitalism has been successful in a global and regional environment of stability and openness – the post-1945 Pax Americana. US leadership has provided geopolitical security and the maintenance of a liberal world economy. But these conditions seem to be changing, and faster than expected, with the US in seeming decline and retreat, and China ascendant and more assertive. So what are the relevant global and regional scenarios for Asian capitalism?
 
I think Asia will find it much more difficult to meet its innovation challenges than it did to meet its catch-up challenges in past decades. I have strong doubts about the ability of Asia’s political and economic institutions to meet future innovation challenges. Not least, I doubt China’s ability to move to Schumpeterian capitalism under “market Leninism”, and to provide effective leadership in Asia – a Pax Sinica to replace the Pax Americana. I believe Schumpeterian capitalism needs stronger liberal-democratic institutions and more open societies in Asia, and a global context of stability and openness that will require continued leadership by the United States. That, I believe, is essential for the preservation and expansion of freedom and prosperity in Asia. But nothing is pre-programmed. There is a battle to fight. And it must also be fought on Sri Lankan soil – in economic policy, in building liberal-democratic political and economic institutions, in relations with foreign powers, and participation in international institutions."

 - Prof.Razeen Sally

Agenda

5.30 PM -  Registration and Refreshments
6.00 PM -  Introduction to the talk
6.05 PM -  Lecture by Prof. Razeen Sally
7.00 PM -  Q&A with Prof Sally Moderated by Eshini Ekanayake - Economist, JB Securities ltd.

Speaker Profile 

Razeen Sally is Associate Professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore. He is Chairman of the Institute of Policy Studies, the main economic-policy think tank in his native Sri Lanka. Previously he taught at the London School of Economics, where he received his PhD. He has been Director of the European Centre for International Political Economy, a global-economy think tank in Brussels. He has held visiting research and teaching positions at Institut D’Etudes Politiques (Sciences Po) in Paris, the Australian National University, the University of Hong Kong, the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, and Dartmouth College in the USA. He was also Chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Competitiveness. He is an Adjunct Scholar at the Cato Institute, and on the advisory boards of the Institute of Economic Affairs (UK) and the Centre for Independent Studies (Australia). He is a member of the Mont Pelerin Society.
Razeen Sally’s research and teaching focuses on global trade policy and Asia in the world economy. He has written on the WTO, FTAs, and on different aspects of trade policy in Asia. He has also written on the history of economic ideas, especially the theory of commercial policy. He is a senior adviser to the Finance Minister of Sri Lanka and his new book on Sri Lanka will be published in 2019.

Moderator Profile

Eshini Ekanayake is an Economist at JB Securities focused on macroeconomic research and analysis on Sri Lanka. She has also worked as an Associate at Moody's Analytics Sri Lanka, supporting economic research of several leading global financial institutions. Eshini has over 6 years of experience in Macroeconomic Research, Economic Forecasting, and Applied Econometrics. She holds a BSc in Economics and Finance from the University of Bristol and an MSc in Economic Policy from University College London.

"Accessing know-how for development"

In a new lecture series by Echelon and Advocata Institute, Prof Ricardo Hausmann of Harvard Uniersity's Centre for International Development speaks about how to access know-how for economic development.  

Economies grow by adding new products and services to their production portfolio, and not by producing more of the same kinds of products. The key to such diversification is access to know-how, but know-how often has to come from abroad. This is because it is often easier to move brains to new countries than to move new know-how into brains. In the experience of Singapore, India, Vietnam and most other dynamic economies, three channels of know-how transfer stand out: FDI, immigration and diaspora networks.

In this lecture, Professor Hausmann explores the relationship between economic development and the accumulation of know-how. He will in particular discuss how to tackle Sri Lanka’s limited export diversification.

Who is Prof Ricardo Hausmann? 

Prof Ricardo Hausmann is one of the most sought after experts in development economics in the world.  He is the Director of Harvard University's Center for Development and Professor of the Practice of Economic Development at the Kennedy School of Government. Previously, he served as the first Chief Economist of the Inter-American Development Bank (1994-2000), where he created the Research Department. He has served as Minister of Planning of Venezuela (1992-1993) and as a member of the Board of the Central Bank of Venezuela. He also served as Chair of the IMF-World Bank Development Committee. He was Professor of Economics at the Instituto de Estudios Superiores de Administracion (IESA) (1985-1991) in Caracas, where he founded the Center for Public Policy. His research interests include issues of growth, macroeconomic stability, international finance, and the social dimensions of development. He holds a PhD in economics from Cornell University. His team at CID has been studying Sri Lanka’s economy, it’s constraints for growth and how to reform it’s trade policy. 

Agenda

5.30 PM -  Registrations and Refreshments
6.00 PM -  Introduction
6.10 PM -   Lecture by Prof Hausmann
6.45 PM -  Q&A with Prof Lawrenece moderated by Murtaza Jafferjee
7.45 PM -  Closing

"Path to Prosperity :  Protectionism or Free Trade?"

With the election of Donald Trump as the President of the US, the topic of trade protection has dominated the economic and business pages of the international press.
Long before the topic came into vogue, Sri Lanka was practising what Trump preached. For over a decade the Government intervened heavily to promote import substitution and local industry. Most Sri Lankans will be surprised to learn that the effective rate of protection is now at a similar level it was in the 1980’s,  reversing almost two decades of liberalisation.
The Fraser Institute which measures and ranks openness of trade amongst countries rank Sri Lanka 135 out of 159 countries mainly owing to complex procedures and high 'para tariffs'.

Is protecting local businesses from foreign competition the way forward for Sri Lanka ? Or should the country embrace globalisation and free trade?  In this lecture Prof Robert Lawrence from Harvard University's Kennedy School of government explores the topic.  

Who is Prof Lawrence? 

Robert Z. Lawrence is Albert L. Williams Professor of International Trade and Investment, a Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research.

He currently serves as Faculty Chair of The Practice of Trade Policy executive program at Harvard Kennedy School. He served as a member of the President's Council of Economic Advisers from 1998 to 2000. Lawrence has also been a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. He has taught at Yale University, where he received his PhD in economics. His research focuses on trade policy. He is the author of Crimes and Punishments? Retaliation under the WTO; Regionalism, Multilateralism and Deeper Integration; Single World, Divided Nations?;andCan America Compete? He is coauthor of Has Globalization Gone Far Enough? The Costs of Fragmentation in OECD Markets (with Scott Bradford); A Prism on Globalization; Globaphobia: Confronting Fears About Open Trade; A Vision for the World Economy; and Saving Free Trade: A Pragmatic Approach. Lawrence has served on the advisory boards of the Congressional Budget Office, the Overseas Development Council, and the Presidential Commission on United States-Pacific Trade and Investment Policy.

Agenda

5.45 PM -  Registrations and Refreshments
6.00 PM -  Introduction
6.10 PM -   Lecture by Prof Lawrence
6.45 PM -  Facts and Figures on Tariffs by Murtaza Jafferjee
7.00 PM -  Q&A with Prof Lawrenece moderated by Murtaza Jafferjee