Philanthrocapitalism: The only route out of recession

Davos: Allow the rich to save the world. Not just businesses, but also individuals, engage in philanthropy for many reasons.

While some individual philanthropists seek recognition in their communities or beyond, corporations may wish to improve community relations or identify their brand with good causes.

There are literally thousands of different ways of making the world a better place, and many of them - from addressing homelessness or promoting the arts in a local community to fostering global health - will be helpful to a company's bottom line.

CNN's Richard Quest interviewed Matthew Bishop who coined the word 'Philanthro-capitalism' and recently authored the book Philanthrocapitalism: How the Rich can Save the World.

At Davos Bishop will discuss how the rich can save the world by taking a businesslike approach to charitable giving.

He will be joined by Nancy Lublin, CEO of DoSomething.org and venture capitalist Matt Cohler, who will talk about the movement towards not-for-profit IPOs as a way of remaking the impact of NGOs.

RICHARD QUEST: Well, don't the rich always save the world?

MATTHEW BISHOP: Well, they're going to - someone has got to save the world. And meeting here in Davos, it's their chance, I think, for the business people like Gates and Branson and the head of GE to actually get together with the politicians and actually hammer out some answers.

We're going to come to that in just one second, because I want to put into a little bit of perspective, we've just been hearing Ali Velshi talk about why Obama can't get the plan through or why it's difficult. To those on the outside, it seems somewhat extraordinary, the house is burning and they're arguing about the hose pipe.

Right. If this president can't get what he wants now after the kind of victory he has just had, then we really are in trouble. So what's going on here is about a battle to establish who's in charge. The Democrats are back in charge of Congress.

They've got a Democratic president. They both have quite different worldviews. And I think they really are testing each other out. But ultimately Obama will get what he wants.

And I think he may well get two or three more rescue plans through as well, because he is really taking this crisis and saying we've got to lead and find answers now, which he is right about.

Tonight I see numbers being quoted that suggest bailing out the banks is going to be at least a trillion dollars. Some say bailing them out could be $2 trillion (Dh7.34 trillion) or $3 trillion. Do those numbers seem reasonable, or will it be at unreasonable numbers?

Well, I think they've got to do whatever they can to save the banking system at the moment, because the banking system is not just the fat cat bankers being bailed out, it's the whole of the economy, not just the American economy, but the global economy.

If they let the banking system go down, we're all in for something like the Great Depression or worse. So they really have to spend whatever amount of money it takes to get this situation sorted out, however horrendous that sounds.

Matthew, I know you're a fellow journalist, and of great seniority, but one question I hear again and again, and I know you hear it, is it going to work? Are they going - are we going to - so all of this money, and it still may not work.

Well, it depends if they get it right. I mean, there are lots of things they could be sidetracked into doing. And Congress this week may actually force the president to do some things that don't make sense.

But unless you can keep the banking system alive, and I think you can ultimately by the government putting its weight behind the banking system, all other bets are off. So, you know, we've really got to hope that they do come up with a solution. But it remains to be seen.

And the importance of Davos in all of this, I know we have to - but the importance of Davos, why this place? They didn't manage it at the G-20. They've got the United Nations, there are 1,001 venues for talking, why this one?

Well, as I write in my book, "Philanthrocapitalism," Davos is this place where business people who really care about sorting out the world can get together with politicians.

There is all of this talk at the moment about how the business people have had their go and now it's the time for government to come back in and rescue the day.

- Gulf News in association with CNN brings you the latest from World Economic Forum 2009.