A special series outlining policy priorities and solutions in 2021 by the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

The world economy is experiencing a very strong but uneven recovery, with many emerging market and developing economies facing obstacles to vaccination. The global outlook remains uncertain, with major risks around the path of the pandemic and the possibility of financial stress amid large debt loads. Policy makers face a difficult balancing act as they seek to nurture the recovery while safeguarding price stability and fiscal sustainability. A comprehensive set of policies will be required to promote a strong recovery that mitigates inequality and enhances environmental sustainability, ultimately putting economies on a path of green, resilient, and inclusive development. Prominent among the necessary policies are efforts to lower trade costs so that trade can once again become a robust engine of growth. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Global Economic Prospects. The Global Economic Prospects is a World Bank Group Flagship Report that examines global economic developments and prospects, with a special focus on emerging market and developing economies, on a semiannual basis (in January and June). Each edition includes analytical pieces on topical policy challenges faced by these economies.

The practical actions we can take to grow ourselves bigger than our challenges, build profitable impact businesses, and a regenerative circular global economy to rise to the challenges of the Climate Emergency, the 17 UN SDG, etc.

The international economy since 1945 has endured dramatic changes in its balance of power, from the early period of prosperity for industrialised nations, to the 2008/9 global crisis. In this volume Catherine Schenk outlines these huge changes, examines how the world’s economic leaders have tried to organise and influence the international economy and presents the key frameworks in which international economic relations have developed. Focusing on the pattern of international trade, international investment and the changing organisation of the international monetary system, this volume takes a chronological approach of key time-frames, and shows how policy has impacted the balance of the international economy. Major events such as European integration in the 1960’s, the collapse of the international monetary system and oil crisis in the 1970’s the return of China to the international economy in the 1980’s and emerging market crises in the 1990s are discussed within the context of key themes including global economic and regulatory co-ordination, the role of American economic hegemony, the evolution of exchange rate policy and unequal development. International Economic Relations since 1945 is the perfect guide for all students of economic history and international history, and for those seeking to understand recent economic trends in a longer term perspective.

"A readable, balanced, and provocative view of the prospects for fruitful international economic cooperation. The papers are realistic: each discusses the difficulties involved in reaching cooperative solutions or procedures as well as the benefits of doing so. The discussion among the conference participants is lively, interesting, and insightful."--William H. Branson, Princeton University

What can the ideas of history's greatest economists tell us about the most important issues of our time? 'The best place to start to learn about the very greatest economists of all time' Professor Tyler Cowen, author of The Complacent Class and The Great Stagnation ___________________________ Since the days of Adam Smith, economists have grappled with a series of familiar problems -- but often their ideas are hard to digest, before we even try to apply them to today's issues. Linda Yueh is renowned for her combination of erudition, as an accomplished economist herself, and accessibility, as a leading writer and broadcaster in this field; and in The Great Economists she explains the key thoughts of history's greatest economists, how their lives and times affected their ideas, how our lives have been influenced by their work, and how they could help with the policy challenges that we face today. In the light of current economic problems, and in particular economic growth, Yueh explores the thoughts of economists from Adam Smith and David Ricardo through Joan Robinson and Milton Friedman to Douglass North and Robert Solow. Along the way she asks, for example: what do the ideas of Karl Marx tell us about the likely future for the Chinese economy? How does the work of John Maynard Keynes, who argued for government spending to create full employment, help us think about state investment? And with globalization in trouble, what can we learn about handling Brexit and Trumpism? In one accessible volume, this expert new voice provides an overarching guide to the biggest questions of our time. The Great Economists includes: Adam Smith David Ricardo Karl Marx Alfred Marshall Irving Fisher John Maynard Keynes Joseph Schumpeter Friedrich Hayek Joan Robinson Milton Friedman Douglass North Robert Solow ___________________________ 'Economics students, like others, can learn a lot from this book' - Professor Paul Collier, author of The Bottom Billion 'Not only a great way to learn in an easily readable manner about some of the greatest economic influences of the past, but also a good way to test your own a priori assumptions about some of the big challenges of our time' - Lord Jim O'Neill, former Chairman at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, former UK Treasury Minister, and author of The Growth Map 'An extremely engaging survey of the lifetimes and ideas of the great thinkers of economic history' - Professor Kenneth Rogoff, author of The Curse of Cash and co-author of This Time is Different 'This book is a very readable introduction to the lives and thinking of the greats' - Professor Raghuram Rajan, former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, and author of I Do What I Do and Fault Lines 'Read it not only to learn about the world's great economists, but also to see how consequential thought innovations can be, and have been' - Mohamed el-Erian, Chief Economic Adviser at Allianz, former CEO of PIMCO

A more ethical economic system is now possible, one that rectifies the crisis spots of our current downturn while balancing the injustices of extreme poverty and wealth. Adam Arvidsson and Nicolai Peitersen, a scholar and an entrepreneur, outline the shape such an economy might take, identifying its origins in innovations already existent in our production, valuation, and distribution systems. Much like nineteenth-century entrepreneurs, philosophers, bankers, artisans, and social organizers who planned a course for modern capitalism that was more economically efficient and ethically desirable, we now have a chance to construct new instruments, institutions, and infrastructure to reverse the trajectory of a quickly deteriorating economic environment. Considering a multitude of emerging phenomena, Arvidsson and Peitersen show wealth creation can be the result of a new kind of social production, and the motivation of continuous capital accumulation can exist in tandem with a new desire to maximize our social impact. Arvidsson and Peitersen argue that financial markets could become a central arena in which diverse ethical concerns are integrated into tangible economic valuations. They suggest that such a common standard has already emerged and that this process is linked to the spread of social media, making it possible to capture the sentiment of value to most people. They ultimately recommend how to build upon these developments to initiate a radical democratization of economic systems and the value decisions they generate.