Stigler Center Minicourse Global Discord: The International Economic Order under Fractured Geopolitics
with Paul Tucker
November 28-29, 2022 | Harper Center C01
The contest between the West and China could well last a century or more, rather like that between Britain and France over the long 18th century. As then, more than a simple (but dangerous) rivalry for pre-eminence, the contest will be inflected by deep differences in legitimation norms arising from two civilisations’ distinct histories. But it would be foolhardy to regard the other superpower as beyond the pale since we cannot keep it there. While cooperation will be easier and deeper among those with whom we share the most and fear least, it cannot be non-existent with China (and its satellites) as some global hazards can be addressed only together. A world with different degrees of cooperation in different fields, this will be a de facto international order of concentric circles. It will affect the main international economic regimes and organisations in profound ways.
Join us for two interrelated lunch seminars taught by Paul Tucker on these topics from his new book, Global Discord: Values and Power in a Fractured World Order.
Monday, November 28: 12-1 pm CT
Geopolitics, Values, and the International Regimes for Trade and Investment
After a quick survey of his approach to International Relations, which rejects the standard menu of Hobbesian pessimism, Kantian idealism and Grotian natural law for one based on David Hume’s marriage of incentives and norms, Tucker will sketch his view of how the new geopolitics will constrain international cooperation into an order of concentric circles. The practical implications for cross-border trade and investment will be assessed, drawing on the World Trade Organization state-owned enterprises subsidies case and the current United Nations-sponsored review of the bilateral investment treaty order.
Tuesday, November 29: 12-1 pm
Basic Order: The International Monetary and Financial System Meets Security
Whether the gold standard under the 18th century balance of power, or the dollar under the period of US hegemony, the international monetary system and the international security order are typically intertwined. The challenge to the dollar is therefore more than economics. Tucker will describe what this should mean for US and European monetary, financial, and regulatory policies.
Paul Tucker is a fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School and the author of Unelected Power:The Quest for Legitimacy in Central Banking and the Regulatory State (Princeton). He is a former central banker and regulator at the Bank of England, and a former director at Basel’s Bank for International Settlements, where he chaired some of the groups designing reforms of the international financial system after the Global Financial Crisis.
Copies of Paul Tucker’s new book, Global Discord: Values and Power in a Fractured World Order, will be available for sale and signing.
In-person location: Harper Center - Room C01 (5807 S. Woodlawn Ave)
*Livestream also available