Patrick Heller
I think you need a combination of policies that level the political playing field. So, it gives those at the bottom of the distribution to be politically effective. But on the other hand, that invariably is tied to more conventional policies of redistribution and expanding opportunities. So, I do think that in the global economy today, classic redistributive policies are really difficult because of the mobility of capital globally and the difficulty states have in taxing capital. It means that other policies such as equalizing access to basic services, which don’t necessarily cost as much, but that require a lot of political will, may get more traction.
And when you look at this important difference between building human capabilities and capital accumulation in development, there are two policy dimensions. There is of course the straight trade off dimension, that is sometimes a zero sum equation: if you extract resources from the economy and you direct them towards certain activities that enhance human capability, you undermine growth. So you have to be sensitive, because you don't want to kill growth.
But on the other hand, there's sometimes a positive sum logic. Some social investment can actually enhance growth, so I think the key is trying to figure out which are the positive sum social investments, and avoiding the zero sum investments. There are some fairly 'no brainer' positives ones: like education, better urban infrastructure, because a competitive city grows more successfully. But there are some policies that can be counter-productive to growth, and zero sum.
