The late Professor Lester C. Thurow and the Zero Sum Solution

Suppose an economic mogul, the late Dr Lester Thurow (our Permanent Honorary Advisor), the dean of the MIT Sloan School, were alive. Then, I guess he would have said that “the zero-sum economy” has arrived instead of “the zero-sum Solution” about the present world situation. The zero-sum Solution was a symbolic event of the 1980s when the distribution of the world’s wealth was divided between accumulating countries and those that were not. After that, Professor Lester C. Thurow mentioned that while everyone thinks Japan would play a leading role in the world economy, the EU would be establishing the European-led economic system becoming the world economy champion from the 1990s to the early 2000s. I remember that he was clearly stating that in his book “Head to Head”.

From the perspective of Professor Lester C. Thurow view, I wonder what he would say for which country would be the economic champion after the immense impact of the new coronavirus. Perhaps, he would have said like this.  “It is not the country, nor the people, but the social structure that gives the illusion that makeshift economic clumps will lead the world economy in the name of investment that flock to a theme that is a temporary activator.”

Decarbonisation and the zero-sum economy

Based on this reasoning and considering the current events, I think that the theme of decarbonisation, which swept humankind, corresponds to that. The technologies that drive decarbonisation are said to be hydrogen and CCS (refilling CO2 underground). However, if it is not profitable, it will not be a permanent driver of the world economy, even if it causes a temporary boom and creates economic clumps.

What is truthfully essential is not decarbonisation that assumes a boom for temporary investment. I would say that the technology that can be permanently supported in consideration of profitability can form a true “decarbonisation and zero-sum economy”.