15: The Coronavirus Crisis 2: Why Is Society so Vulnerable?

The Coroavirus Crisis: Why is Society so Vulnerable? Part II of: What Type of Crisis is This? A lecture in four parts for Ars Electronica 2020. We live in the richest society of all time. But a break of two or three months cannot be managed without serious problems. This has to do with the organisation of wealth in capitalist economies and with the transformation of the global economic system in the period of the so called gobalisation. This has led to a huge wealth gap that has increased in many countries in recent years. The reorganisation of economic activities , e.g. by global value chains, made the global system more rational and efficient, as many indicators show. What is forgotten, however, is that it simultaneously becomes more and more vulnerable and more and more unstable. Large parts of the economy are constantly operating at the limit without reserves and buffers. In 2008, we learned just how unstable the financial system has become. The coronavirus shock shows how vulnerable our entire economic system has become on a global scale. Credits: The videos were edited by Niko Mayr Walter Ötsch ist Professor für Ökonomie und Kulturgeschichte am Institut für Ökonomie der Cusanus Hochschule für Gesellschaftsgestaltung https://www.cusanus-hochschule.de/ https://www.walteroetsch.at