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Economy, politics, and society: A permacrisis we can overcome

"All of us have known one another long before the pandemic. During the pandemic, we ratcheted up how often we spoke and huddled on Zoom to talk through the global challenges choking the headlines. The more we discussed the challenges in place and ahead, the more we found ourselves searching for—and finding—realistic ways governments can make a difference, where international organizations can step up to their historic role of driving collective action; and where, by engaging and bringing together civil society and the public and private sectors, we could deliver breakthroughs." The intent might seem a bit ambitious, were it not for the fact that the friends eager to suggest good practices to governments include a former UK Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, a Nobel laureate in Economics, Michael Spence, and a Professor from Cambridge, Mohamed A. El-Erian.

 

Their conversations have turned into this book: Permacrisis: A Plan to Fix a Fractured World, (Italian edition: Permacrisi. Un piano per riparare un mondo a pezzi, Bocconi University Press, 2024).

 

If by "permacrisis" we mean a prolonged period of instability and insecurity, also stemming from a series of catastrophic events, we can confidently say that what the Collins Dictionary declared the word of the year for 2022 is still the most fitting to describe the world we live in. Yet, despite the "perma" prefix suggesting otherwise, this is not a permanent situation. The path out of it is long but possible. And it’s the path that Gordon Brown, Michael Spence, and Mohamed El-Erian attempt to map in their latest book.

 

Certainly, it’s worth emphasizing right away: the future cannot be a return to a past that will never come back. Brown, El-Erian, and Spence's approach is far from nostalgic. At the heart of today's permacrisis are inadequate approaches to growth, economic management, and governance: flawed approaches, but not beyond repair, that nevertheless require a vigorous course correction.

 

"The world is changing before our eyes," the authors clarify. "And we have a duty to grasp the meaning of the ongoing changes: first, the shift from a unipolar to a multipolar world; second, from hyper-globalization to light globalization; third, from a neoliberal era where economics dictated political decisions to a neo-nationalist era where politics and national security set the economic conditions. The world is changing, but what this change will look like depends on us."

 

  • Italian publisher: Bocconi University Press.
  • Publication Date: April 2024.
  • ISBN: 9791280623300.
  • Pages: 316.
  • Format: Paper.

 

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