Friday, October 10, 2003

Quotes of the Day from Olivier Cadot's Industrial Policy & International Competitiveness Again, the last day to hear one of the most entertaining lecturers at Insead.  Thanks for the memories! [referring to the botched deregulation of the California power industry] "When the shit hits the fan, it's too late to fix..." [on the two-factor, two-good Heckscher-Ohlin model] "This can be generalized to N factors in M goods across K countries... but then it becomes a complete mess." [on the Rybczynski Theorem] "Rybczynski... the thing is to spell it correctly... damn Polish names..."  Lucky must add that everyone in the class laughed except for the Polish lass.  These kinds of statements sound very harsh, but remember that it's equal-opportunity... everyone's country is a fair target for humor and ridicule; there is no discrimination on campus.  On trade policy which demands that developing countries lower their import tariffs: "All talk about reciprocity is bollocks." On resource clusters: "Porter, as usual overselling himself by a factor of 12..." On higher education in the US (3% GDP expenditure) and Europe (less than 2% GDP expenditure) "We are not keeping up, we are lagging pathetically." [not a quote, but important]  The US subsidizes its cotton producers in an amount greater than 100% of the world market value of cotton output.  They then export this cotton, which destroys one of the only growth opportunities for African countries to develop.  This is criminal trade policy. "This course is composed of models, cases, and me babbling... I am babbling, but there is some theoretical underpinning to what I am saying." 1:49:43 PM    comment []

Quotes of the Day from Karel Cool's Industry & Competitive Analysis Quotes from the last two classes... this is a sad day, not having more Cool wisdom to look forward to!! "Critical mass in corporate layoffs... I didn't want to go into this when those guys from the accreditation board were here..." [referencing a joint-venture by BT and ? in the UK broadcasting market] "You cannot setup a $400 million venture and shut it down in two months... without premeditation." "If you don't know how much more convenient is the debit card, just go to the supermarket and watch someone pull out their checkbook... gives you goosepimples..." [understating Microsoft's task in achieving critical mass in the video game market against the incumbent Sony] "I don't know how this is going to work out... certainly not a picnic, certainly not a walk in the park..."   1:23:16 PM    comment []

Comments from yesterday's Conference de l'INSEAD speech by Michel Camdessus; please take with salt, as French is not Lucky's native language.  The event topic was "Mondialisation et antimondialisation: où est la sagesse?" Markets + technology + investment = favorable economic climate Robert Reich believes that globalization will destroy solidarity, give poor compensation to workers, and increase inequality; this will lead to the marginalization of developing countries, especially in Africa. Globalization has serious problems associated with it, like criminality, AIDS/SARS, computer viruses (!), and cultural cleansing. But take hope!  "Ils existent les moyens de s'ameliorer!"  450 million Europeans can humanize globalization.  They can choose between a Europe of strength or weakness. Pope John Paul II describes Europe in one word: "ouverture" (opening). He spoke eloquently of "la formidable maelstrom de la mondialisation..." Three themes on which to base progress: Engagement with the developing world, notable through the UN Millenium Goals. Engagement with the poorest countries in the world, in the form of a partnership. Commitment to sustainable development, as was discussed at the Johannesburg Summit 2002. NEPAD as a forum through which economic development can be achieved in Africa. Must accelerate work on the "l'architecture financière mondiale", a rare phrase where the French equivalent is every bit as ugly as the original English "international financial architecture." In response to a question asking how it could be expected that governments react rationally to globalization: "Ce n'est pas interdit d'être lucide et intelligent..." "Le multilateralisme est le seul instrument qu'on a, pour empêcher le renard de rentrer dans le poullaier."     1:16:51 PM    comment []