Speeches at the Seventh Forum of the World Association for Political Economy

Abstract

Opening Speech-May 26, 2012We gather today here, in Mexico City, the largest city of the world, at the Metropolitan Autonomous University in Xochimilco, a renowned academic institution in Latin America, to celebrate the opening of the Seventh forum of WAPE, with the theme State, Market, the Public and Human Development in the 21st Century. On behalf of WAPE, I wish to extend the warmest welcome to about 120 scholars from more than 30 countries around the world, and my sincerest gratitude to the president, professors, students, and staffof the Metropolitan Autonomous University in Xochimilco!WAPE is an international academic organization founded by Marxist and other critical economists from around the world. The mission of WAPE is to utilize modern Marxist economics to analyze the world economy, reveal its laws of development, and offer policy suggestions to promote economic and social progress on the national and global level, and to better serve the purpose of rapidly improving human wellbeing.The last six WAPE forums were successively held in Shanghai, Shimane (Japan), Beijing, Paris, Suzhou (China), and Amherst (USA) between 2006 and 2011, winning our association significant authority and influence around the world.The topic for the Seventh WAPE Forum is State, Market, the Public and Human Development in the 21st Century. Under this general theme, viewed from the perspective of Marxism and general critical thinking, we will discuss the following chief issues:1. The relationship between state, market, and the public under globalization.2. The status, role, and forms of organization of the public in the process of economic globalization.3. Marxism and human development in the 21st century.4. The new forms of imperialism and its many negative influences on human development.5. The economic, political, and military roots of the fiscal crises in the US and Europe.6. Employment and income distribution under the failures of the state and the market.7. The global and international polarization of wealth, and its negative effects.8. The reform of international economic organizations and the development of human society.9. The BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) and the South-South Cooperation movement.10. The Occupy movements and the critique of Capitalism.11. Other topics in Political Economy.I believe that with your enthusiastic participation, this forum will be a very productive and fruitful one in terms of the discussions on the topics listed above.The market practices in the past few hundred years have proved that a dual system and mechanism is necessary, which is based on market but with state playing a dominant role in terms of the overall relationship between the market and the state. Markets coordinate economic process through the operation of the law of value, which is seen in the interaction between key market categories, such as price, supply and demand, and competition. This so-called market-based coordination mechanism plays basic roles in the utilization of resources in the short-term and at the micro level, as well as performing the functions of inducing signal-transmission, technological innovation, and individual and enterprise self-interest. However, the strength of the market adjustment cannot hide its inherent functional weaknesses. (1) It often leads to deviations from the goal of the overall development of the national economy. (2) It has a limited effect on such areas as infrastructures, public goods, the husbandry of scarce resources, low-profit basic industries, education, health care, basic research, and national defense. (3) It adjusts to changes after the fact and slowly, particularly in terms of inducing the structural industrial transformation of the economy. (4) Its overall social cost is high.On the other hand, the state coordinates overall economic processes through economic, legal, administrative, and persuasive means, consciously following the general goal in the distribution of total social labor. …