## SHARED PROSPERITY IN A FRACTURED WORLD

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**Canonical URL:** [SHARED PROSPERITY IN A FRACTURED WORLD](https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2025/12/books-rosenberg.pdf)

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### Critique of past paradigms and global cooperation
- Observations on existing paradigms:
  - Voters are turning away from the free market Washington Consensus, the government-led Keynesian welfare state, and the rules-based liberal international order after about 80 years of established paradigms.
  - Rodrik is scathing about policies of the hyperglobalization period that followed the Cold War, highlighting that some global norms took too little account of developing economies’ needs and that unfettered financial flows may have caused harm.
- Views on global governance:
  - Rodrik argues that the past focus on multilateral governance was misplaced and that self-interested policies—notably between the United States and China—may be less detrimental than assumed.
  - Counterpoint noted: what applies to large divergent economies such as the United States and China may not hold for many other countries, some of which seek to preserve the old order at a regional level (for example through plurilateral trade agreements).
- IMF-related observation:
  - The review notes that the IMF and other guardians of the global economic order have adapted support programs to country circumstances (including social safety nets) and modified guidance on monetary and exchange rate policy (including capital controls).

### Policy prescriptions, emphasis, and examples
- Key policy stance:
  - Rodrik emphasizes experimentation over grand design, and local solutions over national or global ones.
- Labor-market focus:
  - Critiques a fixation on manufacturing jobs as a costly mistake in both advanced and developing economies.
  - Advocates enabling workers to take up well-paying jobs in services.
- Micro-level interventions and examples:
  - Recommends a host of micro-level state interventions already proven to work.
  - Illustrative examples in the text include a public-private partnership in western Michigan and vegetable sellers in Colombia’s Bogotá.

### Omissions and limitations identified by the reviewer
- Political framing:
  - Rodrik frames his approach as an agenda for the Left’s return to power (notably in the United States), which the reviewer suggests risks politicizing his insights and solutions.
- Silent or under-addressed issues:
  - The book is largely silent on migration flows, rising debt, and the rapid advance of artificial intelligence.
- Scope and narrative concern:
  - While ambitious, the book arguably falls short of developing a new narrative that will capture the imagination of anxious populations around the world.
- Balance critique:
  - The review suggests the book could have emphasized that certain economic truths (for example, persistent fiscal deficits or overvalued currencies) hold irrespective of national conditions.

### Assessment and contribution
- Strengths:
  - Persuasive critique of hyperglobalization-era policies.
  - Convincing argument for services-oriented job strategies and for local, experimental interventions.
  - Many sensible insights and practical solutions illustrated by concrete examples.
- Weaknesses:
  - Insufficient engagement with several key contemporary anxieties (migration, debt, artificial intelligence).
  - Risk of politicization by presenting the agenda as a Left resurgence.
  - May not fully convince or mobilize broader public sentiment due to limited narrative framing.
- Overall judgment:
  - The book is thought-provoking and makes a valuable contribution to a long-overdue debate about a new progressive agenda, even if it does not wholly succeed in offering a comprehensive new narrative.

*Christoph Rosenberg is a former deputy director of the IMF’s Communications Department.*

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_Source: https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2025/12/books-rosenberg.pdf_