As we come to the end of the first decade of the 21st century, I shall, in the course of the next few columns reflect on the international economic situation, in the circumstances of two of its most pressing and intractable problems (crises). The first of these is the now three-year-old global economic crisis, which has failed to show meaningful signs of a sustained recovery, any time soon. By all accounts, it would be fair to characterize this crisis as the worst economic recession, financial crisis, and credit squeeze the world has experienced since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The second of the intractable problems is equally urgent, and has grave long-term implications for the very survival of human activity on Planet Earth. That problem is environmental, and is uniquely characterized by the threats of global warming and climate change.

As testimony to the profundity of these two problems, there have been five G20 summits on the global economic…..