Book. At the start, nothing predestined Guillaume Vuillemey, 34, to denounce the excesses of globalization and free trade. On the contrary. Professor of finance at HEC, “pro-business” therefore, he was passionate about the responsibility of companies and their shareholders vis-à-vis society and the environment. That of their shareholders is limited to their initial stake when they buy shares. Therefore, how to ensure that societies will have the right social behavior or vis-à-vis nature? How to define the good, the collective interest? And above all, when they say they care, are companies efficient?
To find out, the researcher dissected a sector: that of maritime transport. A choice that owes nothing to chance. Vessel activity is one of the most traceable: all their movements are recorded and documented. A great subject for academic work. And his conclusions are clear. Social and environmental responsibility (CSR) left to companies is full of good intentions, but it is ” a mirage “ : some shock actions that can hide the reality of the rest of the activity.
From these works he drew a conviction which took him a little away from his initial research, but which gave rise to this short essay: it is the rule of the collection “The Republic of Ideas”, 128 pages, not one more ! For him, “Economists have failed to grasp the deep nature of globalization”. They have long thought that all countries would benefit from free trade and that if they identified “hidden costs”governments could still correct “ex-post” the rules of trade. But they have become incapable of doing so, largely powerless, because globalization is accompanied by a “deterritorialization” actors, economic activities and even law.
“Scarcity of the commons”
In the maritime transport sector, it is very clear: through flags of convenience, shipowners attach their fleet to the jurisdiction that grants them the least restrictive status, social law or taxation. It is this, among other things, which has brought down the cost of container transport and enabled other sectors to be able in turn to locate their production where the legislation is most favorable to them. “The dominant fact of globalizationconcludes the researcher, is the competition between countries and ultimately the possibility of almost completely abstracting oneself from any contribution to the common good. » It leads, he says, to “an abundance of private goods” but “was coupled with a scarcity of common goods”.
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