The G20MAP, sustaining global economic growth and global imbalances
Abstract
Introduction The challenges global macroeconomic policymakers facing today are like the challenges faced by John Maynard Keynes and his colleagues at the Bretton Woods conference in 1944. The Bretton Woods system was built with the memories of the 1930s in mind and was designed to enable countries to grow rather than to fall into depression in the way they did after World War I. We face a similar challenge now, in ensuring that growth returns to a sustainable level, after the onset of the Great Recession in 2008. This is an international problem, and as in 1944, a solution to this problem requires global cooperation. The G20 Mutual Assessment Process (MAP) is the platform on which this cooperation can be developed. And there is a role for India in helping to bring about such cooperation. At the time of the G20 Summit in Cannes in November 2011, the global economy found itself in a dangerous phase, with a recovery which was weakening and with intensifying risks of financial instability. As a result of these dangers, G20 Leaders endorsed policy actions by members designed to ensure progress towards strong, sustainable and balanced growth. These policy actions are discussed in this chapter. Although it was initially written in the run-up to that Summit, the analysis remains relevant today. Some of what is discussed below is presented in more detail in Adam et al. (2012) and in Temin and Vines (2013).