Photo: Future of Globalisation

The section Future of Globalisation in this blog provides a platform for debates on current world economic issues, global power shifts and views on the roles of formal and informal global governance institutions. It is an initiative of the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS). The blog posts, appearing on every first and third Wednesday each month, are written by researchers from IDOS and our international partners, amongst them numerous prestigious think tanks from rising powers. In this blog, the authors of the contributions represent only their personal opinion. While aiming at cutting-edge research content, the blog intends to reach a broader audience of researchers, government officials and journalists. With this blog we carry on discussions that had initially been launched in 2016 as part of the Think20 process during the German G20 presidency. In 2018, we aim at continuing the debate about the role of the G20 broadening the focus of discussion to institutional and thematic matters of global economic governance.

If you are interested to contribute, get in touch with Axel Berger and Sven Grimm of the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS) via futureofglobalisation@idos-research.de.

You need to understand SDG interactions – here’s why

Image: Rubis Cube

Conversation on SDG interactions has just started

A new interactions framework could be key to effective implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals by G20 governments. In this blog Måns Nilsson and Martin Visbeck explore possible ways of empirically tracking degrees of policy coherence between the 17 SDGs, and propose ideas as to what the G20 might do to promote accountability of member governments in upholding the 2030 agenda.

A Latin American agenda for the G20

Photo: Buenos aires port

Latin American priorities into the global agenda

With Hamburg G20 Summit drawing closer, so too does the handover of the G20 presidency to the 2018 host, Argentina. In this blog, Jorge Argüello, Chair of the Embajada Abierta Foundation and former Ambassador of Argentina to the UN, explores possible areas around which the Latin American members of the G20 (Argentina, Brazil, Mexico) could work together to ensure Latin American perspectives and priorities are elevated and more effectively represented within the G20 process.

Turning the global inequality debate into action

Photo: Slum in Rio de Janeiro

Problems of rising inequality

Although G20 finance ministers in Baden Baden acknowledged the growing challenge of inequality, and the need for more inclusive growth, it is not yet clear what action the G20 leaders might take on the subject at their meeting in Hamburg. As evidence mounts about the risks posed by inequality to both social and economic advancement, this blog considers the merits of a PISA style ranking for inequality that would help processes like the G20 keep track of which policies and countries are succeeding in tackling inequality. The authors also outline specific recommendations for G20 leaders that could enable the G20 members to periodically review and reassess their approaches to redressing inequality.

Access to Financial Services But Without the Skills to Use Them: The Importance of Financial Literacy

Image: Calculator

Financial ignorance carries a hefty price tag

At the 2010 G20 summit in Seoul, leaders recognized greater financial inclusion as a core component of global development in both rich and emerging economies, and established the Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI). Following the recent GPFI meeting under Germany’s G20 Presidency over May 2-4, Annamaria Lusardi explores some of the costs of financial illiteracy, and makes the case for G20 leaders to expand financial literacy education services.

Two Ideas for the G20 to keep the US in the climate-change lifeboat

Image: Céline CharveriatAt the recent G7 energy ministerial in Rome, the Trump administration’s listlessness on climate change prevented attendees from being able to sign off on an endorsement of the Paris climate deal. With the G7 leaders summit in Taormina now only one month away, and the G20 leaders summit in Hamburg only two months after that, it seems Donald Trump is yet to be won over by those in his cabinet who believe it would be a mistake for an American President to attend both summits as the first world leader to cut and run from the Paris Agreement.