Putting Global Governance in its Place

31 Pages Posted: 7 Oct 2019

See all articles by Dani Rodrik

Dani Rodrik

Harvard University - Harvard Kennedy School (HKS)

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: August 2019

Abstract

In a world economy that is highly integrated, most policies produce effects across the border. This is often believed to be an argument for greater global governance, but the logic requires scrutiny. There remains strong revealed demand for policy and institutional diversity among nations, rooted in differences in historical, cultural, or development trajectories. The canonical case for global governance is based on two set of circumstances. The first occurs when there is global public good (GPG) and the second under "beggar-thy-neighbor" (BTN) policies. However, the world economy is not a global commons, and virtually no economic policy has the nature of a global public good (or bad). And while there are some important BTN policies, much of our current discussions deal with policies that are not true BTNs. The policy failures that exist arise not from weaknesses of global governance, but from distortions of domestic governance. As a general rule, these domestic failures cannot be fixed through international agreements or multilateral cooperation. The paper closes by discussing an alternative model of global governance called "democracy-enhancing global governance."

JEL Classification: F50, F60

Suggested Citation

Rodrik, Dani, Putting Global Governance in its Place (August 2019). CEPR Discussion Paper No. DP13945, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3464468

Dani Rodrik (Contact Author)

Harvard University - Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) ( email )

79 John F. Kennedy Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

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