the question of redistribution

By Kirubel Tadesse

Roman times economic thought was found hidden in the laws, customs and institution of that society. Later the economic thought in the strictest sense of the term first emerged but surpassing this fact economics has inscribed abrupt disciplinary expansion and attained a quantum leap in world history. In the last three decades economics and law have become the most closely married disciplines, explains Peter Newman, in "The new pal grave encyclopedia of economy and the law."
According to professor Charles Good hart's, "Law and Economics", the birth of law and economics dates back to University of Chicago Law school 1940's-1960 when the book 'the problems of social cost' was published. In recent times, game theory was introduced to the legal discipline. This tie between economics and law is too much, says Zadig Abreha, law graduate from Addis Ababa University. Zadig, on his personal manifesto which he called the disciplinary emancipation, explains that the marriage between economics and law is a one-way traffic; the consequence is colonization of law by economics, which has in turn resulted in intellectual imperialism.
Further progress in law and economics depends not on reversing the flow of the one way traffic on understanding the social interaction of law and economics, rather it depends on understanding of lawyers' and economists interface between the public sphere of state and the private sector of the market since it is money and the law which act as the key mediating mechanisms between these spheres. It is now known that we are living in an increasingly globalized world where disciplines are also part of the overall process. As a result of globalization, what stands tall now is a pluralistic view - an interdisciplinary approach, explains Zadig.
In the last two hundred years the world has accumulated ample wealth while with an increasing gap between developed and developing countries. As has been the case, economics as a discipline vanguarded economic development and economists as scholars have taken the helm of development road maps and spearheaded developmental efforts. Therefore, the problems of today's globe are pervasive extreme poor with a staggeringly low national economy on one hand and an affluent people with a strong national economy on the other hand. Zadig explains that what is crystal clear is the question and need of redistribution.
"As can be easily discerned economics has brought ample resource and economics as essentially a science of wealth creation has played an indispensable and priceless role in making it happen. In short, economics has produced enough wealth. Nowadays, developing countries are claiming that they do not expect economic messiah as is the case with India (IT messiah) and china (in industrial messiah) with unearthly and self made potent of changing the lives of tens of millions of people. They are rather calling in loud but heard faintly for global justice. So, the question is can economics keep the ball rolling and maintain its role in development and spearhead the globe to that end as it did in the past? The answer is a ringing no. Economics is mainly concerned with wealth creation and is not mind full of redistribution. By writing so, it is not to mean that economics is fully devoid of redistribution issues rather it is to mean that what stands tall in economics is creation of wealth rather than its redistribution, writes Zadig on his manifesto, "and to this end we need a discipline that is not tolerant of income gap and professionals trained and fashioned with this mentality."
Zadig argues that the time now is of redistribution and explains that quoting Sen Amartya from "development as freedom", as saying the New International Economic Order (NIEO) calls on a call for redistribution. "It rests itself on the notion that the root cause of poverty in developing countries is as a result of past actions of the now developed countries - slave trades, colonization. So, NIEO is purely a wealth redistribution demand."
The collaborative work of many researchers, "law and poverty: the legal system and poverty reduction" states that the emerging international poverty law is a synthesis of
" Economic, social and cultural rights
" The right to development
" Sustainable development
" The right to new international economic order
" The demands for global justice
The emerging poverty law in its domestic aspect orders governments to have an economic policy that makes the general poor the beneficiary of economic development. And according to Zadig's paper the new poverty law in its domestic aspect injects fighting poverty with an issue of justifiability.
Generally speaking, the partnership in MDG is grounded in mutual responsibility and accountability. To quote the UN Secretariat report, the developing countries' responsibility in MDG will be strengthening governance, combating corruption, promotin private sector led growth and maximizing domestic resources to fund national development strategies while the duty of developed countries will be supporting these efforts through increased assistance, a new development-oriented trade round and wider and deeper debt relief. To be specific, goal one of the MPG aims at reducing hunger and people whose income is less than one dollar per day half in 2015. But this is not some thing to be met by owning property, Zadig argues.
"MDG has solved this shortcoming by implanting goal eight of the same declaration. Target twelve of goal eight has envisaged a rule based, non-discriminatory trading and financial system, by doing so redistribution is attained, "claims Zadig.
The demand for redistribution of wealth demands political rights and this won't fall from heaven. Most of the point rose as evidence for my characterization, Zadig points out, of this era as a redistribution era is premature to become law. They are either on their way of becoming legal instrument or instruments that have won the consensus of the international community. If these are to crystallize and result in correlative duties, developing countries need to be part of the globalization process, which is an inevitable fate in world economy. Moreover, developing countries must organize themselves as developing countries because if not they will act on other grounds like in religion, products (oil producers), geography (African countries, Asian countries), etc. This will result in a divided voice for their demand of global justice.
After explaining the call and belief of the need and question for redistribution, Zadig advises that the way forward should be accompanied by changing law schools radically through opening law and development departments, offering law and economics as a course and offering mathematics for lawyers as a course.
"We have now the blue print of what the world will look like by 2015 thanks to the Millennium Village Project. We have now an increased awareness and commitment of developing countries' leaders with a level of maturity and rapprochement. We have now, out of an enlightened self interest, the commitment and would be committed developed countries by our side. The last thing to be done is disciplinary emancipation which makes sure that the commitments are boiling down to the ground and the finance secured is not misused or gone to the pockets of corrupt leaders," concludes Zadig.