‘Great Nations: Not Many Ideas’: The Antagonistic Factors

Abstract

‘Great nations, not many ideas’ was the title of an article that appeared in the magazine The Economist a few years ago. The article deplored the absence of good ideas for tackling the monetary disorders with which the western world is beset. The topic is one that crops up frequently in commentaries in the press and, I imagine, in the thoughts of ministers and their advisers, one that the economic recovery, fragile as it still is, cannot put in the shade. How can the continuing decline of the dollar on the exchange markets be halted? How can the crisis into which the developing countries, with their excessive burdens of debt, are threatening to plunge the world financial system, be mitigated? How can we return to harmonious rates of growth and give work to millions of unemployed people? How can we explain the fact that, in the monetary field, no one has yet succeeded in conceiving and setting up efficient and rational systems for national and international use?