Читать книгу Economics of G20 - Группа авторов - Страница 13

Leaders of major economies get together whenever the international economic system suffers a major shock. The stagflation in the developed countries following the oil price increases in 1973–1974 resulted in the convening of a meeting in 1976 among the leaders of the seven major economies of the time, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, UK and the US. Thereafter, summits were regularly held among the leaders of these seven countries to discuss the state of the world economy and what policies may be appropriate in the circumstances. After the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997, a group of 20 leading economies represented by their finance ministers and central bank governors was formed to discuss the steps needed to be taken to avoid such crises in the future. After the 2008 financial crisis, the G20 was raised to the level of leaders. At the subsequent Pittsburgh summit, it was announced that this group had the responsibility to manage the world economy to provide strong, sustainable and balanced (SSB) development.

In this chapter, we seek to assess how successful the G20 has been in achieving SSB. We also discuss whether the G20 meetings can help governments to coordinate monetary and fiscal policies so that SSB is achieved. We study the experience of the inter-war years, another period of economic turbulence, to see what the prospects for economic coordination are.