When "wanted" posters bearing his name and face were plastered around his hometown of Greenwich, Connecticut, Bill Harrison, chief executive of JPMorgan, caved in and bound his bank to place social and environmental outcomes front and centre in financing decisions. Half-way around the world in the forests of Kalimantan, Indonesia, the Kiani Kertas pulp mill, built for $1.3bn, remains silent and rusting as one international bank after another has been blackmailed into reneging on firm commitments to lend.
Vigilante non-governmental organisations have become the de facto regulators of the flow of finance to the developing world. They seek to seize, without compensation, the property rights of emerging nations together with their prospects for growth. Contrary to the classic interventions of the well-intentioned, it is the poor world that will bear the costs while the rich world benefits. Will their rough and ready tactics win out? Do not bank on it. Quiescent resources beyond the reach of western activists will mobilise to fund a new marketplace where economic forces, not intimidation, prevail.
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