George Soros on Globalization

George Soros is a major proponent of globalization, viewing the free movement of capital and the growth of multinational corporations as phenomena that have produced significant wealth and freedom globally. However, he argues that this economic globalization has been 'lopsided' because the development of international institutions has not kept pace with the globalized economy and political arrangements have lagged behind. This results in an imbalance where private profit supersedes public welfare, leading to uneven playing fields, marginalization of the poor, and environmental harm. He actively takes to task international organizations like the World Bank and the WTO for failing to address these inequities adequately.

To correct these distortions, he proposes practical steps to strengthen and reform global institutions, not to destroy them as some critics suggest. A central element of his reform agenda is the need for an incentives-based system to complement the WTO’s rules-based system for private goods, specifically by proposing the donation of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) to finance global public goods like poverty reduction and health initiatives. He stresses that while markets are amoral and efficient at creating wealth, society requires a political process to establish a distinction between right and wrong, which must be integrated into the global economic structure.