The Global Economy in Turbulent Times

CHAPTER 9 G-20 Summit, Seoul 2010: Much Ado about Nothing¹

The recent G-20 Seoul Summit was a disappointment. Because expectations were carefully managed down, most were really not surprised to be disappointed. When all is said and done, nothing really happened. G-20 succeeded in assisting the traditional and emerging powers to agree to disagree. Pretty much more of the same—each country will continue doing whatever it was already doing. Much ado about nothing, really, except the willingness to keep talking and worrying. President Obama puts it best at the Summit: “The work that we do here is not always going to seem dramatic. It’s not always going to be immediately world changing. But step by step what we are doing is building stronger international mechanisms and institutions that will help stabilize the economy, ensure economic growth, and reduce some tensions.”

On global trade imbalance, the British prime minister added: “The key thing is being discussed in a proper multilateral way without resort to tit-for-tat measures and selfish policies.” Let’s hope it was not a multilateral monologue! The communiqué reflected “rewarmed” pronouncements of good intentions. While understandably short of actionable solutions, it did at least seem to acknowledge the difficulties of the situation. Not surprisingly, G-20 reiterated its commitment to work together toward strong, sustainable, and balanced (SSB) growth, and to take additional measures to achieve shared objectives.

After dramatically ...