The Hogan Entrepreneurs Program kicked off its first Wednesday Speakers Series for the Spring 2017 semester with guest speaker, Dr. Chris McNally. Dr. McNally is a Professor of Political Economy at Chaminade University and Adjunct Senior Fellow at the East-West Center in Honolulu. His presentation was titled Strategic Mega-Trends: Making Sense of Today’s Politics and Economics.
According to Dr. McNally, it took three generations to build up the first age of globalization, and a lot of accepted norms are probably going to become unhinged soon. He spoke about the rising flows of foreign direct investment, steady growth in major markets, relatively open trade, decline of transport costs, increased intra-industry trade, and the introduction and spread of information and technology. He added that climate change, inequalities and backlashes against globalization, disruptive technologies, and geopolitical and economic power shift are some major global challenges that are likely to persist.
There have been rapid increases of inequality within nation states, and these inequalities are amplified by lack of opportunity for advancement amongst many in the world. Technology, for example, is going to be the next big thing driving global economies. Combination of new emerging technologies promise to make an impact, specifically the three A’s: Artificial Intelligence, Additive Manufacturing, and Autonomous Machines. Jobs will be replaced and lost due to these new technologies, and much will depend on trends in development labor markets, government policies, and social attitudes.
State capitalism is a magnified role that does not use markets to maximize economic efficiency, but to maximize the powers and survival of the states because it believes in free and fair trade. Dr. McNally’s argument about the age of uncertainty is that global power relations are undergoing a power transition, with power shifting to the great Eurasian powers. He also stressed that we may all fall into some sort of anarchy.
Dr. McNally concluded his presentation with this piece of advice: “Brace yourself for the Age of Uncertainty, learn to hedge and be nimble, and be able adapt to change!”
Written by: Hogan Entrepreneurs Program student, Ferleen Mallarme
Speaker Session with Chris McNally 1/25/17
