Just came upon the talk Bill Gates gave at Davos 2008. He spoke on "creative capitalism," and I've distilled the 30 minute speech below:
To provide rapid improvement for the poor we need a system that draws in innovators and businesses in a far better way than we do today.
The challenge here is to design a system where market incentives like profits and recognition do more for the poor. Recognition enhances a company's reputation and appeals to customers; above all, it attracts good people to an organization. As such, recognition triggers a market-based reward for good behavior. In markets where profits are not possible, recognition is a proxy; where profits are possible, recognition is an added incentive.
Adam Smith, the very father of capitalism, opened his first book with the following lines: "However selfish a man may be, there are evidently some principles in his nature which interest him in the fortunes of others, and render their happiness necessary to him though he derives nothing from it except the pleasure of seeing it."
Comments