Fairness over time: a social science perspective
Talk by Erik S. Reinert at the Joint Research Centre (31 August 2016)
This talk will cover the idea of fairness from a variety of angles. Across time and in different forms of economic organizations — the clan economy, the town economy, the national economy, and the global economy — the idea of fairness has existed in extremely different contexts and presented very different challenges and solutions. Today the transition from nation-based economies to a global economy presents a number of dilemmas which will be discussed.
In tune with changes which have taken place in economic theory, over the last century the discussion of economic fairness has passed from one of social justice to one of inequality, i.e. from being seen from the point of view of society to being seen as a purely individualistic phenomenon. The implications of this will be discussed.
Higher degrees of inequality appear to be considered “fair” in some cultures compared to others. What could explain such differences? Also from a legal point of view the fight for fairness take different forms: in some legal tradition fairness — as well as freedom — seems to be fundamentally defined as the absence of arbitrariness.
Before his distinguished academic career, Prof. Reinert worked for nearly twenty years as a managing director of a manufacturing company with Europe-wide production and sales. As a businessman and as an economist he has worked in about sixty countries, and will also draw from his business experience to illustrate how fairness is very differently understood in business transactions even between countries who speak the same language.
About the Speaker:
Erik S. Reinert, a Norwegian citizen, is Professor of Technology Governance and Development Strategies at Tallinn University of Technology. Reinert is also chairman of The Other Canon Foundation in Norway. He holds a BA from Hochschule St. Gallen, Switzerland, an MBA from Harvard University, and a Ph.D. in economics from Cornell University. From 1971 until 1991 Reinert ran a manufacturing firm which produced in three European countries.
Lecturing in five languages, Reinert’s work has taken him to almost 60 different countries; as a consultant, teacher, or in business. As a part-time position he has taught the economics of reindeer herding at the only aboriginal college in Western Europe, Saami University College in Kautokeino, Norway, and been an advisor to the reindeer herders. He has been visiting professor at ESAN University, Lima, Peru; Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Ural Federal University, Ekaterinburg, Russia; Asia-Europe Institute, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and the Institute of Public Management, Paul Cézanne University Aix-en-Provence, France. In 2012 he held the Tun Ismail Ali Distinguished Chair in Investment and Finance at the National University of Malaysia (UKM), Kuala Lumpur. Reinert has been rewarded the Myrdal Prize by the European Association of Evolutionary Political Economy (EAEPE).
Reinert’s research is based on the historical and ethical traditions in the economics profession. His recent research is dedicated to teaching and research in the theory and history of uneven development, with particular attention to the History of Economic Policy as an under-researched area, i.e. what kind of economic policy nations have actually carried out historically as opposed to what reigning theories told them, and still tell them, to do. His book How Rich Countries got Rich…and why Poor Countries Stay Poor has been published, or is under translation into, about 20 languages. In 2016 The World Economics Association shortlisted Reinert’ book for the election of the 10 most important economics books of the last 100 years.
Contro Corrente is a series of seminars with renowned scholars and practitioners of science and technology studies, aiming at raising awareness of science and technology studies and how these types of reflexive activities can help with scientific practice at the Joint Research Centre.
