Lester Brown says China should drop free-market policies

By Alex Singleton | 8 September 2005

In the People's Daily, a Chinese newspaper, there is a report entitled "China cannot afford to follow US example in economic development":

Lester Brown [pictured], who scared the world by asking "Who will feed China" in 1994, said today that, "the United States has become the greatest threat to world energy."

Brown, president and founder of the Earth Policy Institute, based in the United States, called for the China to give up its model of economic development, which evolved in the United States and is characterized by inefficiency and pollution.

Oddly enough, a big worry from producers in other countries is that Chinese producers are very efficient. In the last two years, for example, Chinese textiles manufacturers invested $25bn to retool and streamline their facilities. The result is that China out-competes countries with lower wage costs. Free-market economists take the view that free-markets increase efficiency because of the constant striving to reduce costs.

Brown's view of the environment is also puzzling. It is well-established that as countries go through the early stages of development, they create a lot of pollution. As they they get richer, and people's basic needs are fulfilled, people care more about their environment. London once had smog: today it has the cleanest air since records began in 1585. And so we should be tolerant of developing countries, recognizing that for them poverty is a more serious concern than the environment.

"The fossil-fuel based, auto-centered economy of the United States threatens not only the world energy supply, but also the climate," said Brown, during his stay in Beijing to attend the "Twenty First Forum," in an exclusive interview with Xinhua which sharply criticized US energy policy...

According to his projections, if the Chinese consume resources in 2031 as voraciously as Americans do now, China would consume 1.352 billion tons of grain, about two thirds of the entire 2004 world grain harvest. It would need 99 million barrels of oil a day, more than the current world production of 79 million barrels daily.

Of course we should be concerned about climate change. But as oil prices increase, and new energy sources lower in price, we will switch to other energy sources. China is not leaving its future to fossil-fuels: it is building the most advanced nuclear power stations in the world. China does not need to stop consuming: the market system will price oil out of usage.

The economic system Brown attacks is the one that has lifted 200m Chinese out of poverty. But there is much work still to be done - there are still 160m Chinese living on less than $1 a day.