Adam Smith taught modern economists that global governance is hard because, among much else, for most people, losing a little finger is worse than the deaths of hundreds of millions in places far away, like China.
China is big
Thing is, though, what happens when it’s China where the little fingers are – because China becomes the world’s economic centre – and “far away” is somewhere else, far away?
Under Australia’s chairmanship of the G20, it is possible to improve the political rules of finance. Little sign though.