De Grote Reset als complottheorie?

The 51st annual congress of the Word Economic Forum (WEF), which took place on January 26-29, 2021 - this year not in Davos but virtually - had the theme "The Great Reset". The intention was to promote a new kind of economic order, based on the principle of "stakeholder" capitalism, which, using the corona crisis as trigger, offers the prospect for a more fair, social, sustainable and shock-resistant future. However, the pursuit of this ‘major reset’, like the Building Back Better embraced by Joe Biden, proved to all kinds of conspiracy theorists that it is the upshot to an international plan to enslave and oppress the world. This article asks why this happened and what is true of it. In any case, the WEF is not planning a conspiracy, but the advocated form of stakeholder capitalism does not fit in a social democracy either. After all, such a form of corporate social responsibility is only really realistic and rational when there are government rules that encourage socially responsible behavior. Consider the plea of almost all economists for CO2 taxes to encourage industry to prevent further global warming. It is up to government, not business, to serve the interests of all citizens, as well as of future generations. In that sense, there is also a difference between the stakeholder capitalism of the WEF and the Dutch polder model, where, in conformity with the Tinbergen theory of economic policy, a compromise is reached on the basis of the different political preferences.