Global Macroeconomic Cooperation

Consumers worldwide are cutting their spending in response to declining wealth and fear of unemployment. Until households save enough to restore their wealth, there is a strong case for global cooperation to boost the world economy and meet future needs by investing in infrastructure, particularly transportation, sustainable energy, pollution control, and water and sanitation.



The United States, Europe, and Asia have all experienced a collapse of wealth due to the fall of stock markets and housing prices. There is not yet an authoritative measurement of the wealth decline and of how it is distributed worldwide, but it is probably around $15 trillion lower than the peak in the US, and perhaps $10 trillion lower in both Europe and Asia. A combined wealth decline of around $25 trillion would be roughly 60% of one year’s global income. The decline in US wealth as a share of the US economy is even larger, around 100% of annual income, and perhaps 70% of annual income in Europe and Asia.

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