Chinese leadership of macroeconomic policymaking in a multipolar world

This paper discusses the kind of leadership in global macroeconomic policymaking that China might provide. The paper describes a form of leadership, which I call ‘concerted unilateralism’, that enables countries to pursue their own objectives, in a way which they would not have been able to do if they were acting on their own, and enables them to achieve a higher level of welfare. I contrast such leadership this with a form of authoritarian leadership in which the leader imposes obligations on other countries which are to the disadvantage of those countries. I argue that China could provide leadership of the first kind, by making use of the G20 Mutual Assessment Process, or G20MAP. In the short term, China might do this by consolidating the ‘2-in-5’ action plan, which Australia instituted within the G20MAP when it was Australia was President of the G20. In the longer term, China might do this by ensuring that there is convergence between the G20MAP and China's own One-Belt-One-Road strategy for international engagement in trade and finance.