Analyze the Billionaires of a Society to Gauge Its Economic Health | Ruchir Sharma | Big Think
August 19, 2016
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2:59Now PlayingAnalyze the Billionaires of a Society to Gauge Its Economic Health | Ruchir Sharma | Big Think
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Billionaires: what have they done for us lately? Well, some of them have developed the tech you're reading this on (scoring good points), but others have gamed the system and nepotismed their way to the bank (bad, bad billionaires).Ruchir Sharma, head of emerging markets at Morgan Stanley and a longtime columnist for Newsweek, the Wall Street Journal, and the Economic Times of India, is looking at economies in a unique way — he's studying certain nations' billionaires. "That really tells you about how a country is evolving, and where income and equality is becoming too big an issue, and where could the population really begin to revolt, in some way, against wrong kind of wealth creation," he says.
He used three metrics to sort the billionaires: the number of billionaires in a country as a share of the total economy, whether the wealth being created is good or bad, and the number of inherited billionaires in that economy. If any one of these metrics is out of balance, Sharma believes it can hint at trouble on the horizon (if it isn’t present already).
The division of billionaires into good and bad categories is particularly interesting. What makes a billionaire good or bad? According to Sharma, good billionaires, like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, generate wealth through skill and innovation, which earns them respect. Bad billionaires typically come from industries such as real estate and finance markets, and their wealth is perceived to be a result of gaming the system, good government connections, and other unfair advantages. The balance of good and bad billionaires needs to be even, or ideally tipped towards good, for a society to thrive.
Sharma also points out that some of America’s wealthiest people, such as Warren Buffet, Donald J. Trump, and many a sneaker-wearing tech god, have succeeded in being ‘blue collar’ billionaires, able to speak and appeal to the masses despite the massive income inequality gap. In nations where the billionaires are dominantly bad, like Russia or Mexico, wealth creation is resented and it would be highly unlikely that a billionaire would run for office.
Ruchir Sharma's book is The Rise and Fall of Nations: Forces of Change in the Post-Crisis World
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RUCHIR SHARMA
Ruchir Sharma is head of emerging markets and chief global strategist at Morgan Stanley Investment Management. A longtime columnist, he now contributes frequently to The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, Foreign Affairs and other publications. His first book, Breakout Nations, appeared in April 2012 and has since been credited for accurately foretelling the slowdown in the celebrated “BRIC” economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China. Ruchir’s next book, THE RISE AND FALL OF NATIONS: Forces of Change in the Post-Crisis World is now available. He lives in New York City.
Ruchir’s other interests include athletics and a serious commitment to running. Despite his extensive travels, he tries not to miss a single day of training no matter where he is in the world. He regularly trains with his former Olympics coach and competes in sprinting events. In 2011, he represented India in the World Masters Athletic championship in Sacramento. Ruchir also has a keen interest in wildlife and in international cinema and makes it a point to attend major film festivals anytime he can find a moment from his investing, writing and running.
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TRANSCRIPT
Ruchir Sharma: So let’s focus on good versus bad billionaires. What do I mean by this? The good billionaires in a country typically tend to be from industries such as technology, manufacturing, pharmaceutical. These are industries where it is all about that person’s skill and talent which is leading to this wealth creation. On the other hand, the bad billionaires tend to be from industries such a s real estate, mining. And what do I mean by that? In these industries a lot of the wealth creation is done by giving the system or by having good government connections. And I think that that any nation will have a few bad billionaires. But if you have too many bad versus good billionaires that is a problem. Now take the case of the United States. In the United States in fact the number of good billionaires far outnumber the number of bad billionaires in this nation.
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