What is happening to our global financial architecture? In preparation for next month’s Group of 20 meeting, finance ministers headed by the US have suggested a new, overarching principle for trade relations. Surpluses and deficits are to be reined in as a share of national income, forcing chronic deficit nations to raise domestic savings and excessive exporters to increase domestic demand. The proposal amounts to a radical new rule for global development. It also entails unprecedented G20 authority. Its apparent rejection underscores the challenge of new, multilateral bodies imposing governance on long-standing convention.
我們的全球金融架構怎麼了？在籌備下月20國集團(G20)峯會的過程中，以美國爲首的各國財長針對貿易關係提出了一項新的最高原則。盈餘和赤字佔國民收入的比例將受到控制，從而迫使長期赤字國增加國內儲蓄，過度出口國擴大內需。該提議實際上是一項全球發展的全新規定。它還會賦予G20空前的權力。這項提案遭到明顯抵制，突顯出新的多邊機構在對長期存在的慣例進行治理方面面臨的挑戰。
