Are technological advances leading to greater market concentration in firms such as Google and Facebook and, in turn, creating what could be described as a New Gilded Age? Is now a time for a new era of trust busting? Can start-ups compete against larger, more established firms? What is the prospect for “technological unemployment” that John Maynard Keynes forewarned of in 1930? The answers to these questions hold the key to how the IMF and policymakers should address productivity, inequality, and the future of work.
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Contributor: John Bishop, Secretary's Department
Moderator: Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, IMF
Panelists:
Alec Ross, Author, former Senior Advisor for Innovation to U.S. Dept. of State
Bridget van Kralingen, Senior Vice President, Global Industries, Platforms and Blockchain, IBM
Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Deputy Prime Minister, Singapore
Richard White, Professor of American History, Stanford University
Rising inequality, political polarization, and the dominance of a handful of tech giants have led some to question whether the digital revolution is ushering in a new Gilded Age. The Managing Director and a panel of thought leaders and policymakers discussed the role of data, regulation, and multilateralism in this new era.
Key Points:
Quotes:
“Land was the raw material of the agricultural age. Iron was the raw material of the industrial age. Data is the raw material of the information age…He or she who own the data, control the data, or can harvest meaning from the data are creating the industries and businesses of the future.” Alec Ross
“As governments around the world are short of revenue…the fact that there are no boundaries, that the principle of permanent establishment is no longer applicable to some of those [technology] players will bring governments to the table, where they will have to discuss the new rules of engagement and the way taxation will be devised. That has to have a multilateral dimension.” Christine Lagarde
“People can certainly benefit from education. But if people feel as if they don’t have control over their own civic lives and their working lives, there’s going to be very little incentive to have education.” Richard White
Christine Lagarde
Managing Director, IMF
Christine Lagarde has been Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund since July 2011. She held various ministerial positions within the French government, including Finance and Economy Minister (2007–11), Minister for Foreign Trade, and Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries. She was also Chairman of the Global Executive Committee and Global Strategic Committee of Baker & McKenzie.
Alec Ross
Author, former Senior Advisor for Innovation to U.S. Department of State
Alec Ross is a New York Times best-selling author. He is also a former Senior Advisor for Innovation to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and currently a candidate for governor of Maryland. He started his career as a teacher in Baltimore City Public Schools before co-founding a non-profit organization focused on bridging the digital divide. He has received a number of respected recognitions, including Top 100 Global Thinkers by Foreign Policy Magazine, Huffington Post’s 10 Game-Changers in Politics and the Tribeca Film Festival Disruptive Innovation Award. Ross lives in Baltimore and advises start-ups in Maryland and around the world.
Bridget van Kralingen
Senior Vice President, Global Industries, Platforms and Blockchain, IBM
Bridget van Kralingen is the Senior Vice President of IBM Global Industries, Platforms and Blockchain. She leads IBM's business and technology capabilities helping global industry clients to adopt new business models using cloud platforms with Artificial Intelligence and blockchain. With over 400 organizations since 2016, she has established IBM as the leading enterprise blockchain provider, convening industry-first consortia that rely on blockchain to improve financial services, international food safety and global trade. Kralingen serves on the boards of Royal Bank of Canada, New York Historical Society, Partnership for New York and Catalyst. She holds a Masters of Commerce from University of South Africa and a Bachelors of Commerce from University of Witwatersrand.
Tharman Shanmugaratnam
Deputy Prime Minister, Singapore
Tharman Shanmugaratnam is the Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for Economic and Social Policies. He chairs the Group of Thirty, and the G20 Eminent Persons Group on Global Financial Governance. He led the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) from 2011-2014, and was its first Asian chair. He served as Singapore’s Minister for Finance for 8 years, and as Minister for Education for 5 years. Shanmugaratnam is also Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Singapore’s central bank and financial regulator. He is on the board of the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) and chairs its Investment Strategies Committee.
Richard White
Professor of American History, Stanford University
Richard White is a Professor of American history at Stanford University. His most recent book is “The Republic for Which It Stands: The United States during Reconstruction and the Gilded Age”. He specializes in the American West, the history of capitalism, environmental history, and Native American history. White is a MacArthur Fellow and a recipient of the Mellon Distinguished Professor Award. His work has won numerous academic prizes, and he has twice been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.