Editorial: Debating points

From a recent address by Marshall Cohen, president, Olympia and Yo rk Enterprises, and chairman, Gulf Canada Corp.

Change has become a very popular topic. Out of it all, a few central points emerge — one of the main ones being that a lot of traditional, fundamental economic theory is becoming unglued. Coming unglued for three reasons.

First, the primary products economy has become uncoupled from the industrial economy. This is a complex subject with a number of profound implications, but the bottom line is that the primary products sector has become marginal where before it has always been central.

Secondly, in the industrial economy itself, production has become uncoupled from employment. Manufacturing sector growth in developed countries is no longer accompanied by an increase in blue-collar employment. In fact the opposite is more often the case.

Third, capital movements, rather than trade in goods and services, have become the driving force of the world economy. Capital movements and trade have not quite become uncoupled, but the link is both loose and unpredictable.