{"id":25686,"date":"2021-06-11T23:02:00","date_gmt":"2021-06-11T23:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=25686"},"modified":"2021-06-12T09:49:51","modified_gmt":"2021-06-12T09:49:51","slug":"whats-the-g-7-an-international-economist-explains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/whats-the-g-7-an-international-economist-explains\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s the G-7? An international economist explains"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Emily J. Blanchard<\/a>, Dartmouth College<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Group of 7<\/a> is an informal group of seven powerful democracies: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. The presidents of the European Commission and European Council also attend G-7 meetings because several of Europe\u2019s largest countries are also members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Membership, which is decided internally, hasn\u2019t changed much since the group\u2019s founding in 1975. At the time, it included only six countries, all of which still belong. Canada joined a year later. Russia joined as an eighth member in 1998, temporarily changing the group\u2019s moniker to the G-8, but Russia was ousted after it annexed<\/a> Crimea in 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Together, these seven wealthy nations form the foundation of the modern global economy and the cooperative rules-based system on which it is built.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Leaders
G-7 heads of state and the presidents of the European Commission and European Council pose for pictures. AP Photo\/Patrick Semansky<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Why the G-7 matters<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The G-7 countries make up about 40% of the world economy<\/a>, down from nearly 70% a few decades ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the decline, the economic might of G-7 nations remains undeniable, not least due to their collective position as countries at the forefront of technological innovation and industrial know-how<\/a>. Moreover, G-7 economies are inextricably interwoven with global supply chains, which means that a policy change or economic shock in one G-7 country will, for better or worse, have ripple effects across the globe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, the G-7 may be the best hope for quick, decisive and meaningful policy action on pressing global problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the G-7 doesn\u2019t have the institutional clout of the United Nations, the World Trade Organization<\/a> or NATO, it also doesn\u2019t have their institutional red tape or bureaucracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And although the G-7 is a subset of the ascendant G20<\/a> \u2013 which also includes rising economic powerhouses China, India and Brazil \u2013 the G-7 has another advantage: it\u2019s much easier to achieve consensus in an intimate group of similar nations than it is to find common ground among diverse nations with very different economic and political priorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Leaders
Back in 1975, when what is now known as the G-7 was formed, only six nations belonged. AP Photo\/Patrick Semansky<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What the G-7 does<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The world is facing profound challenges, from the devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic<\/a> and climate change<\/a> to authoritarianism<\/a> and attacks on democracy<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

None of these issues colors neatly within the lines of national borders. Countries need to cooperate to find solutions that do not simply kick the can to their neighbors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An example of meaningful action by the G-7 is its June 5, 2021, announcement of an agreement on global minimum corporate tax rates<\/a>, which marked a watershed moment in international taxation. If successful, the agreement could mean the end of tax havens<\/a> and a dramatic shift in how companies record their profits around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Conversation U.S. publishes short, accessible explanations of newsworthy subjects by academics in their areas of expertise.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[You\u2019re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation\u2019s authors and editors.<\/em> You can read us daily by subscribing to our newsletter<\/a>.]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emily J. Blanchard<\/a>, Associate Professor of Economics, Dartmouth College<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Emily J. Blanchard, Dartmouth College The Group of 7 is an informal group of seven powerful democracies: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. The presidents of the European Commission and European Council also attend G-7 meetings because several of Europe\u2019s largest countries are also members. Membership, which is decided […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":25687,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[2292,622,9092,1743,10046,4612,242,10047,2477,176,947,2197,4424,717,104,1600],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25686"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25686"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25686\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25689,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25686\/revisions\/25689"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}