What G20 Leaders Must Do To Stabilise our Economy and Fix ... - Vox
What G20 Leaders Must Do To Stabilise our Economy and Fix ... - Vox
What G20 Leaders Must Do To Stabilise our Economy and Fix ... - Vox
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VOXResearch-based policy analysis <strong>and</strong> commentary from leading economistsin the accompanying communiqué, to make available part of its foreign currencyreserve assets towards an exp<strong>and</strong>ed swap facility in support of global financial stability.The weeks <strong>and</strong> months ahead will be trying times for economic policymakerseverywhere, as they try to contain the fallout for output <strong>and</strong> employment. Raisingtrade barriers against imports will be a temptation, especially when currencies fluctuateso much. But the experience with the Great Depression teaches us that this is thesurest way to magnify the costs of the crisis, <strong>and</strong> to spread it to other countries. Hencethe most serious challenge for the global trading regime at the present is to ensurethat the financial <strong>and</strong> economic crisis does not lead to a vicious cycle of protectionism,greatly exacerbating the economic downturn.So we jointly commit <strong>our</strong>selves in public to not raising protectionist barriers inresponse to perceived threats to employment from imports. We further ask the secretariatof the World Trade Organisation to monitor <strong>and</strong> report unilateral changes intrade policy, with the purpose of "naming <strong>and</strong> shaming" <strong>G20</strong> members that departfrom this commitment.The unfolding financial crisis has made it amply clear that we need a new regulatoryapproach to finance – both domestically <strong>and</strong> internationally. The rules that governfinancial globalisation need to be rethought to ensure that finance serves its primarygoals – allocate saving to high-return projects <strong>and</strong> enhance risk-sharing – withoutleading to instability <strong>and</strong> crises. Our discussions have revealed that there existgreat differences amongst us with respect to <strong>our</strong> respective needs <strong>and</strong> therefore withrespect to how to achieve these ends. A key challenge will be therefore to strike anappropriate balance between common international regulations, on the one h<strong>and</strong>,<strong>and</strong> space for domestic approaches that may diverge from harmonised regulations, onthe other. Recent experience has taught us that there may need to be a greater role forthe active management of international financial flows by governments.Designing the new “traffic rules” for international finance will take considerabletime <strong>and</strong> thought. We have asked <strong>our</strong> ministers of finance to establish a high-levelworking group that will convene as soon as practically feasible to seek wider input,<strong>and</strong> craft a framework for discussion among heads of governments. Despite <strong>our</strong> differenceson the details, we share a common goal: to make international finance safefor the world economy – <strong>and</strong> not the other way around.’About the authorDani Rodrik is Rafiq Hariri Professor of International Political <strong>Economy</strong> at Harvard's JohnF. Kennedy School of Government. He has published widely in the areas of economic development,international economics, <strong>and</strong> political economy <strong>and</strong> authored several books, includingHas Globalization Gone <strong>To</strong>o Far? (1997), <strong>and</strong>, most recently, One Economics, ManyRecipes: Globalization, Institutions, <strong>and</strong> Economic Growth (2007). In 2007 he was awardedthe inaugural Albert O. Hirschman Prize of the Social Sciences Research Council. He is aCEPR Research Fellow.16