The 3 Questions of Global Importance

The age of individual nations resolving economic problems on their own has passed. The global economy is synchronized – the struggles of countries like Greece, the US or Egypt are tightly interrelated. Three major concerns face countries in both the developed and developing world, argues Chrystia Freeland, writing for Reuters, and the response to these issues will determine the economic outlook for the 21st century: The first is the place of the nation-state within the global world economy, and the necessity that global currencies work together to ensure integration. Second is the failure of global capitalism to provide jobs and rising income to the middle class, which breeds discontent and political unrest. Finally, when countries achieve middle-class status, women stop having babies, increasing their own personal wealth but causing demographic shifts over the course of generations that drain their societies of labor. Discussions about fertility rates and demographic shifts are infrequent, in particularly how much the factor has contributed to Europe’s current debt struggles. No one country or society is immune to these global challenges, and it’s only by working together that societies and the world can achieve positive outcomes. – YaleGlobal