Contributors: Deirdre Daly and Claudia Pérez Zaldívar, Secretary's Department
Panelists:
Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, IMF
Michael Bloomberg, Founder of Bloomberg L.P. and Bloomberg Philanthropies, WHO Global Ambassador for Noncommunicable Diseases, and UN Special Envoy for Climate Action
The conversation covered a range of topical issues, including public health, climate change, and the future of work and communication.
Key Points:
- Combatting Non‑communicable diseases (NCDs). Bloomberg noted more people are dying from NCDs (e.g. cancer, diabetes), particularly in LICs, and the problem is not being properly addressed. Preventing these types of diseases requires raising public awareness, particularly among those who may be less educated. Despite all the efforts to combat smoking, 1 billion people are still expected to die from smoking related diseases this century, while obesity is projected to kill even more.
- Fiscal policy for public health. Bloomberg stressed the importance of tax policy for the greater good, including health care. Not everything can be taxed, but policy makers should focus on what is feasible and what has the most “bang for the buck.” Although finance ministers may not think they play a key role in public health, health-oriented measures can increase tax revenue and reduce future health care expenditures (e.g. taxes on soda and cigarettes). Having tax policies with effective outcomes is in policy makers’ interest when they are seeking reelection or advancing their political career. Policies need to be tailored to different groups. For instance, taxes are an effective way to discourage young people from smoking, but older people respond more to banning smoking in public places.
- Climate change. Bloomberg noted that while in the U.S. not much is being done at the national level to address climate change, corporations and individuals are taking action because it is in their self‑interest. Individuals are changing behaviors to save energy because they understand the adverse impact of pollution on themselves and their families. Corporations are responding to pressures from customers, employees, and shareholders to be more socially-responsible. Reaching people in a way that is relevant to them is key to raising consciousness about climate issues.
- The future of work. While automation will displace some jobs, Bloomberg thought that tasks where people prefer human interaction will be harder to replace, such as customer service, sales, and health care jobs. Income redistribution can help address some of the impact of automation, but people also want the dignity of having a job. Thus, policies need to focus on creating meaningful jobs. Possible measures include reducing impediments to job creation and incentives such as the earned income tax credit where the government effectively subsidizes the cost of hiring someone.
- Corruption. Bloomberg observed that while all social spending and redistributive programs have some element of leakage, the public will not support them if they are perceived to be ineffective or corrupt. Lagarde noted that the importance of public trust in policies is precisely why the IMF is doing more work on corruption.
Quotes:
“Something like 70 percent of all deaths come from non‑communicable disease, but we only spend 1 percent of our research budget on non‑communicable disease as opposed to communicable diseases.” Michael Bloomberg
“[Cigarette and soda companies] advertise to people who are susceptible to having their behavior changed by others.” Michael Bloomberg.
“Taxes or life, which you want to do? Pick your poison.” Michael Bloomberg “We have a lot of soldiers in the U.S. Army, but we don’t start a war just to give them something to do. That’s exactly what you’re saying when you say let’s keep coal killing people because we don’t want coal miners to lose their jobs.” Michael Bloomberg
“Maybe you can do an operation with a computer, but holding your hand when you need some support, a computer is not going to be able to do that.” Michael Bloomberg
“I’ve always been a believer that if [a policy] is controversial, pulling the band aid off right away is the only way to do it. If you try to pull of the band aid slowly you are never going to get to the second step.” Michael Bloomberg
“We always talk about helping the poor and then the poor never seem to move out of poverty, and I can tell you why—because we only talked about it, we didn’t pass a law that had anything to do with public service.” Michael Bloomberg
“They always say that there are two things in life that are absolutely certain—death and taxes. We can use the latter to defer the former.” Christine Lagarde
