Its Time for a Reset by Lawrence Summers
This is an article from Turning Points, a magazine that explores what critical moments from this year might mean for the year ahead.
Turning Point: World leaders confront rising anti-globalization sentiment.
In statistical terms, 2016 was a year of continuity for the world economy, as performance was quite similar to that of recent years. The big changes were political, as a widespread anti-globalization movement signaled a breakdown in a consensus among most political leaders that had held since the end of the World War II. It used to be generally accepted that reducing trade barriers increases prosperity and promotes peace, benefiting investing and recipient countries and promoting international cooperation in solving problems around the world. Almost all of this was called into question in 2016.
Both major party presidential candidates in the United States professed to be staunchly opposed to the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, and Donald J. Trump called for ripping up existing trade treaties like Nafta. Across the Atlantic, British voters opted to leave the European Union, while the ruling Conservative Party challenged the rights of foreign workers and the head of the Labour Party embraced socialism and expressed skepticism of Britain’s NATO membership. A trade deal between the European Union and hardly threatening Canada was almost scuppered by a recalcitrant Belgian province concerned about the effects of globalization on local workers. Movements hostile to the longstanding vision of an ever more united Europe gained strength in every major country. . .
This renaissance of nationalism and resistance to globalization appears to be universal, and not the exclusive preserve of either the left or right. It seems to stem from a profound sense on the part of many groups that their lives are buffeted by forces beyond their control. As people’s distance increases in a geographic sense, in a cultural sense, and in the sense of a lack of shared identity, they lose confidence in their leaders’ abilities to protect them. Insecurity is begetting atavism.
These trends pose dangers. For all the problems and challenges, the past 70 years have been a period of unprecedented progress in increasing human emancipation, prosperity, life expectancy and in reducing violence. All of this would be at risk.
We need to redirect the global economic dialogue to the promotion of “responsible nationalism” rather than on international integration for its own sake.'>>>
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/05/opinion/its-time-for-a-reset.html?
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