Brian Easton

Listener 21 July, 2001.

Keywords Globalisation & Trade; Growth & Innovation

In 1987 the Irish decided that their economy needed a new direction. Rather than policy being seized by a small group of extremists, there was a national consensus for change, including from the parliamentary opposition.

Quo Vadis (Trinity Methodist Church, Pakuranga, 2001) p.33-44. Revised version of the text of Brian Easton’s message at Trinity Church in July, 2001.

Keywords: Globalisation & Trade;

I originally undertook to talk about commercialization, but I have recently been working on another, although closely related, question – globalisation. I hope you will forgive me if that is what I talk about today, because it is very much on my mind. I will start by defining globalisation; then talk about two earlier periods of globalisation to see what lessons we can learn from those; then I will talk about some of the current issues.

Listener 7 July, 2001.

Keywords Growth & Innovation

Chatham House rules applied, so I can only tell you there was considerable derision in a meeting of top economists when the slogan of New Zealand aiming to be tenth in the OECD was mentioned. Many such slogans float around our public debate, driven by dogma and lobbying interests. But this one has a quantifiable meaning so it can be assessed. The point of the following is not to overwhelm you with statistics – ignore them if you like – but to try to persuade you that economics can be about analysis rather than meaningless ideological slogans.