Two former presidents - Fernando Henrique Cardoso of Brazil and Ricardo Lagos Escobar of Chile - told a full Salomon 101 Wednesday that democratic social programs like improved public health and education were responsible for their respective countries' successes addressing poverty and income inequality.
The presidents' lecture was the inaugural event of a three-year initiative on globalization and inequality sponsored by the Watson Institute for International Studies, where both men are professors-at-large.
Each former president talked for about 20 minutes at the beginning of the lecture on poverty and inequality in their respective countries and in Latin America as a whole, presenting an array of statistics ranging from the percentage of people in extreme poverty to changes in the minimum wage and inflationary data. The presidents then asked each other questions in a dialogue format. The audience was allowed to asked questions at the end of the lecture.
Cardoso, who served as president of Brazil from 1995 to 2003, said the decline of poverty and unequal wealth distribution in Brazil is a result of lowered inflation and a slate of social welfare programs that he instituted as president.
Going through the series of steps Brazil took starting in 1994, Cardoso said, "with stabilization to stop inflation then agrarian reform then education then public health, it is possible to reduce poverty."
Cardoso stressed that a broad range of initiatives was needed to reduce poverty in Brazil, especially in cities where population shifts from rural to urban areas caused "chaos and disaster" in urban areas like Sao Paolo, where Cardoso is from. He also pointed to the challenges of addressing the needs of people in the "backwaters areas of Brazil," where enduring poverty and inaccessibility make alleviating poverty and illiteracy difficult.
He also stressed the importance of providing jobs as a means for escaping poverty.
Referring to agrarian reform that provided many rural Brazilians with employment, Cardoso said, "From an economic point of view ... (agrarian reform) is probably negative. But there is a good argument from the social point of view because (those who gained from agrarian reform) have work and dignity."
Though Cardoso focused mostly on Brazil, Lagos - who was president of Chile from 2000 to 2006 - addressed issues of poverty and inequality across Latin America.
"The distribution of income is a tricky affair," Lagos said. "The most equal countries in Latin America performed worse than the most unequal countries in Europe," he said.
Still, he said, Brazil and Chile have the least unequal distributions in Latin America, adding that "education is an essential part" of this progress.
"The relation between education and wages is essential," Lagos said, citing data that show that a University-educated worker in Chile earns on average 15 times more money than a worker who only graduated from elementary school.
Both men stressed the importance of freedom and democracy to
development.
"If equality matters (to development), then democracy matters," Lagos said.
The "question of poverty and income inequality can be addressed with democracy," Cardoso said.
Though the two men have differing political leanings ? Cardoso is a centrist who strongly supports neo-liberalism and free trade, and Lagos is a socialist ? they were in agreement on almost every issue presented at Wednesday's event.
They even joked about the respective sizes of their countries, Lagos quipping that soccer stadiums in Chile are built north to south so that they fit in Chile's narrow width.
The only point of disagreement occurred when both men were asked to rate their enthusiasm for Mercosur, a regional free-trading bloc in Latin America, on a scale from 1 to 10.
"I would like it to be a 10, but now it is a three," Cardoso said. Lagos said integration was inevitable but did not support Mercosur with as much gusto as Cardoso did.
Overall, the event "went spectacularly well," said Barbara Stallings, director of the Watson Institute. "These are two of the most intellectual, sophisticated and involved people in Latin America today, and we are really lucky to have them here at the same time."
"This is an exciting opportunity for Brown students to address the most important question in Latin America today, and that is how to alleviate poverty and diminish inequality," said James Green, associate professor of history and Brazilian studies. "It's not easy."
"It was really informative to hear from two former leaders of countries that are very different in size but come from similar historical backgrounds, with military dictatorships," said Leslie Lipsick '10.
