The Problem with Cosmopolitan Economics

The three crucial indicators that something is wrong in America are: a) declining home values; b) declining real wages; and c) the declining employment to population ratio. These indicators are the key measures of Main Street economic vitality, all of which have been trending downwards for the past decade, and all of which are conveniently hidden behind the stage play of macroeconomic indicators (i.e., inflation, growth, and unemployment) that purport to pinpoint the health and well-being of the US (and therefore, Main Street) economy. However, the Main Street economy does not revolve around the cosmopolitan economy. Rather, the cosmopolitan economy revolves around the Main Street economy, a fact that society at large seems to have forgotten in modern times.

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On Cosmopolitanism

The essence of cosmopolitanism holds promises for the future of humankind. According to Prof Thomas Pogge (1992, pp. 48-49):

Three elements are shared by all cosmopolitan positions. First, individualism: the ultimate units of concern are human beings, or persons – rather than, say, family lines, tribes, ethnic, cultural, or religious communities, nations, or states. The latter may be units of concern only indirectly, in virtue of their individual members or citizens. Second, universality: the status of ultimate unit of concern attaches to every living human being equally – not merely to some subset, such as men, aristocrats, Aryans, whites, or Muslims. Third, generality: this special status has global force. Persons are ultimate units of concern for everyone – not only for their compatriots, fellow religionists, or suchlike.

Cosmopolitanism resonates around the individual in a way that provincialism and nationalism do not.

Reference: Pogge, T (1992), "Cosmopolitanism and Sovereignty," Ethics, 103(1), 48-75.

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