Rebuilding the Global Economy – A special series outlining policy priorities and solutions in 2021 by Adam S. Posen (editor) published by PIIE (2/2021).
“The world economy is experiencing a corrosion of globalization. The web of economic and commercial ties across the world is fraying, with more frequent and larger gaps in it—even as trade in goods, services, and technology shifts locations and in some places grows. For globalization is multidimensional, encompassing much more than international trade, though panic about trade gets most of the political and press attention. What matters for human welfare is the quality, not the quantity, of globalization. As global economic integration deteriorates, its benefits for everyone are eroding.
Worldwide, people want to be left in peace, make a decent living, educate their children, look after their families, and, if possible, save for the future. For decades that simple but profound state of economic safety and freedom became ever more widely attained, largely hand-in-hand with increased international openness. But we have been going mostly in the wrong direction on both counts since at least 2008, well before COVID-19. The economic and social impact of the pandemic has not just accelerated the corrosion of commerce and relationships across borders but also made undeniable the extreme vulnerability of the world’s population to disease, economic insecurity, and exclusion…”
