DEBATE: Is there any point to the World Economic Forum in Davos?
Is there any point to the World Economic Forum in Davos?
Ella Robertson, managing director of One Young World, says YES.
Now in its fiftieth year, it might look like business as usual at the World Economic Forum. But with public scrutiny mounting every year, the pressure to keep the mountain air-induced rhetoric real is higher than ever.
The watchful eyes of the media counting the number of private jets flying in ensures that the Davos men (and, increasingly, women) keep their feet on the ground when it comes to climate change. This — climate crisis — has long been a main subject at Davos, and hopefully this will be the year when some meaningful action is taken.
With a potential global catastrophe on the horizon, the importance of an intergenerational conversation at Davos cannot be underplayed. Greta Thunberg and Autumn Peltier might be headlining, but it goes beyond that.
It’s an important annual temperature check on the international political, humanitarian and business leaders, as well as an opportunity for the world’s young activists and campaigners to get in front of them, and present a powerful message as today’s agents of change.
Professor Philip Booth, senior academic fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs, says NO.
Global elites are flying into Davos this week for the annual meeting of the tone deaf to discuss so-called “stakeholder capitalism”.
Adam Smith famously wrote that people of the same trade seldom meet together without the conversation ending in a conspiracy against the public — and Davos is no different.
At what should be their final meeting, participants should ask themselves why populists are revolting against capitalism. One answer is that they feel capitalism is something done to them from people in high places who behave hypocritically.
People don’t want stakes allocated to them by the elite. They want to participate in an ethical business economy and live reasonably cheaply without being wrapped up in red tape.
So if you are a corporate leader or politician on your way to Davos: stop. Step out of your comfort zone. Take a train and chat to some of the thousands of small business owners in the former “red wall” regions of the UK. You might just learn something.
Main image credit: Getty