What the world needs is to introduce true diversity in its financial architecture.

Sir, I refer to “The world needs a new fin­an­cial archi­tec­ture” by Michael Krake, the exec­ut­ive dir­ector for Ger­many at the World Bank.

What if, keeping the UN, World Bank and IMF, we instead reform these institutions? As is, these are managed and governed by bureaucracy autocracies. 

November 2004, at the end of my short two-year term as an executive director in the World Bank, FT published a letter in which I wrote: “Our bank supervisors in Basel are unwittingly controlling the capital flows in the world. How many Basel propositions will it take before they start realizing the damage they are doing by favoring so much bank lending to the public sector (sovereigns)? In some developing countries, access to credit for the private sector is all but gone, and the banks are up to the hilt in public credits.”

I had often expressed this at the World Bank Board but, those colleagues who understood what I referred to, and nodded in agreement, could do nothing. How could they, they were nominated by governments and most expected, and needed, to return to the government. What did not exist was real diversity. Not diversity based on gender or race, but diversity based on interests, life experiences and needs. 

Then I often suggested substituting some on the current executive directors with e.g., a plumber or a nurse; or at least to give a place at the board to that migrant community that, by means of its remittances, provided development countries with much more financial assistance than the multilateral financial entities could ever dream to do.

Now 2024, if I had the blessing to again be at that board of directors, I would drive my fellow directors to despair by, over and over again mentioning: “Give me ten seconds, I want to see what my friend ChatGPT opines on this.”

Would, “Without Fear and Without Favour” FT, be willing to publish a letter on what ChatGPT thinks?

http://voiceandnoise.blogspot.com/2006/05/world-bank-needs-to-go-truly-global.html

http://subprimeregulations.blogspot.com/2004/11/some-of-my-early-public-opinions-on.html

@PerKurowski 

To integrate migrants in Sweden might have to begin with helping Swedes valuing their heritage (their Swedness) more.

Sir, Richard Milne’s reports Ulf Kristersson (Moderate party) told the Financial Times that integrating the hundreds of thousands of immigrants in Sweden was a “really tricky thing,”“Swedish poll favourite eyes welfare change to integrate migrants” May 28.

Over the weekend I was in Sweden visiting family. There I had a chance to sit down and chat with the priest of the parish where the cemetery in which my parents are buried. After hearing her lamenting, discreetly, I said: Indeed, if you do not teach your children about the historical importance of the Church for Sweden’s development, it is hard to see them take due interest of it. 

Two years ago, the only girl wearing a typical Swedish national dress in the “folkpark” where we danced around the Midsummer pole, was my Canadian granddaughter. It was sad. Of course, to integrate migrants to something not given sufficient importance is a tricky affair. In Sweden, when it comes to swearing, even the “fan” I knew has been pulverized by the “shit”. 

Perhaps Sweden needs to look at itself more in terms of a cultural profitable business franchise, and have its universities analyze how much Swedes and migrants would be losing if Sweden got rid of its originalities and went neutrally global. To start out they could try calculating what its Swedish heritage has meant to bring cohesion and strength to the marketing strategy of an IKEA.

But perhaps that’s not politically correct. I wonder if a university in UK has dared estimating the added value in pounds to Britain, of the recent Meghan and Harry wedding. Surely many billions! Instead you have a Bank of England giving you the cost of Brexit, £900 per family.

PS. https://subprimeregulations.blogspot.com/2010/10/god-make-us-daring.html

@PerKurowski

Sometimes there is even more homeland business going on outside the borders than within.

Sir, Tim Harford writes “The world economy is far more integrated now. Some of this globalization is independent of national borders…”, “The Business of borders” March 15.

Indeed, in 2007 I estimated the earnings of the emigrants of El Salvador working in the USA, to be 67 percent higher than the GDP produced in El Salvador by those who remained in their country.