Complex Decision-Making in Economy and Finance

Conclusion: Different Types of Crises

C.1. The crises mesh

A salient feature of society is the parallel mesh of different crises.

C.1.1. Crisis of currency

The evolution of economy and finance is presently influenced by the current trend and challenge between Chinese and American leaderships. However, to preserve an economic, military and cultural superiority, countries have the opportunity either to play their hard power or to just play like a soft power.

Economically, while China is now exceeding the United States in size, the latter can still dispute its influence regarding its composition and sophistication. Even though the American economic supremacy still represents one-fourth of the worldwide GDP, it will evolve further in form and in the background, through the dissemination of powerful non-state actors (large companies) and transnational actors (banks, anti-terrorism, etc.) all linked to the intensive use of information technologies (the new soft power!).

Regarding the possible future risks, the United States and China do not pose direct threats to each other. Agreements are more likely to be in bilateral than multilateral confrontations: problems, even though they involve hard power for political or commercial purposes, are easier to solve. This will be the case, for example, for the climate negotiations between China and the United States.

To conclude, with regard to the previous information, the next risks will not come from a “sub-prime-like” risk, given that ...