From FEE.
"With Ebola wreaking havoc across West Africa, news that a private
company has virtually eradicated the disease on its extensive property
invites sighs of relief.
Yet Firestone’s actions were not unique: private industry has a long history of saving lives when disease threatens.
As recent history demonstrates, to face the prospect of a rapidly
changing world over the next century, the best we can do to help the
world’s poorest is to pursue a strategy of resiliency. And that strategy
includes rich multinational corporations.
Firestone
Firestone, one of the world’s leading tire producers, needs vast
amounts of rubber and owns a huge rubber plantation in Liberia. The
property encompasses 185 square miles, employs 8,000 people directly,
and indirectly supports 72,000 more people who live either on the
property or in surrounding communities.
When the first case of Ebola appeared on the property, the company
initially attempted to place the victim in a hospital in the country’s
capital, Monrovia. Company officials quickly realized that the
facilities there were inadequate, so Firestone set up its own Ebola ward
in the company hospital. By mid-September, the facility was full. But
through careful management, the disease was contained. A few weeks
later, the facility was almost empty.
Firestone was able to do this because it had wealth, valued its
employees and their families, and recognized the importance of stopping
the disease. This is not an isolated example of a private company acting
this way.
Debswana
In the 1990s, when HIV/AIDS threatened to devastate Botswana, the
mining firm Debswana worked to address the threat the disease posed to
its facilities there and began what the United Nations called a “benchmark” program to keep its workers healthy.
Debswana raised awareness among its employees of the HIV/AIDS threat
and how the disease spread. The company funded 100 percent of the cost
of retroviral drugs to employees with the disease and their spouses, and
it provided counseling and monitoring programs. The company called the
fight against the disease its “highest corporate priority,” saying,
The Company’s commitment to the fight against HIV and AIDS is captured
in its philosophy to minimize the impact of HIV/AIDS on employees, their
families and the Company through prevention of new infections, care and
support of those infected with HIV and containment of costs.
While some might call this “corporate social responsibility,” it is also, in fact, a product of enlightened self-interest and a recognition of the interconnectedness of people in the modern world.
That is why measures that promote these two aspects of today’s economy
are the poor’s best bet in surviving anything a changing world throws at
them. Whether it be disease, extreme weather events, or the postulated
effects of global warming such as sea-level rise, greedy corporations
are saving lives worldwide, every day.
Enlightened self-interest and the interconnectedness of global supply
chains combine to promote health and welfare everywhere. Business builds
wealth not just in local communities, but in communities far away that
connect with it. Bridgestone, Firestone’s parent, is based in Ohio, yet
its regard for its own well-being led it to save lives in Liberia.
BHP Billiton
Another example, courtesy of my friend Andrew McLeod, might help to underline this point:
BHP Billiton, the world’s largest mining company, runs one of the
world’s most effective anti-malaria programs in Mozal, Mozambique, not
because it is nice, but because it increases value.
The company’s program has reduced adult malaria infection from above
90% of the adult population to below 10%. The improved community health
has lowered absenteeism in the work force and that has increased the
productivity of their operation by a measurable amount higher than the
cost of the program itself. When measured well, one can demonstrate that
the anti-malaria program is directly, measurably profitable.
Wealthier is healthier. Nigeria, being a richer country than Liberia, was able to keep Ebola at bay. As Indur Goklany and others have shown, wealth is vital for societal resiliency in the face of such risks.
Wealthier is healthier: get with the program
Bearing that in mind, this is what a strategy for reducing the impact of such risks might look like:
-
Promote true free trade by tearing down tariff and nontariff barriers
with the developing world, such as the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy.
-
Promote affordable energy and distribution networks for it in the developing world.
-
Reduce regulatory burdens that divert talent toward developing
accounting tricks or derivative products, rather than dreaming up
genuine innovations.
-
End America’s extraterritorial tax system, which discourages private investment abroad.
-
Liberalize global payment systems to allow the free movement of remittances from immigrants to their home countries.
This program would not only lead to more Firestones around the world but also to more resilience at the national level.
However, such a program is bound to meet with opposition from the “global salvationist”
establishment, whose conventional wisdom centers around inhibiting
trade, banning effective but politically incorrect technologies such as
DDT and coal, and reducing private profit. It may therefore be a while
before it can be adopted.
Resiliency today
In the meantime, people in poor countries like Liberia will have to
continue to hope that companies like Firestone can be encouraged to
invest there. They can best do this by establishing the rule of law and
secure property rights. A true resiliency strategy begins at home."
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