The Doom Loop

Global economic power is shifting, liberal market-oriented democracies face growing domestic turmoil, and international trade and financial integration is crumbling. How did we get here? 

In The Doom Loop, economist Eswar Prasad argues that the very forces that we long believed could stabilize the world order are fueling its destabilization. Rather than promoting shared prosperity, globalization has instead deepened economic inequality, stoked political backlash, and prompted escalating trade wars. Institutions like the International Monetary Fund and World Trade Organization, founded to foster international cooperation, have failed to adapt to twenty-first-century realities. The rise of “middle power” countries like India, Brazil, and Indonesia once suggested a stable multipolar future, but today, such nations are increasingly forced to pick sides as the United States and China fight for global dominance. 

Prasad argues that we are caught in a destructive feedback loop between economics, domestic politics, and geopolitics. The Doom Loop offers a clear-eyed and bracing account of a world spiraling into disorder, and makes it clear that old solutions cannot pull us out—we need radically new solutions to solve the world’s problems. 

• “This important and sobering book delves into the root causes of a perilous period for the global economy. Eswar Prasad, one of the United States’ top economists, clearly and elegantly explains how the post–World War II international order has been undermined in a destructive feedback loop of financial and debt crises, populist domestic politics, and dramatic geopolitical shifts. Despite the bleak picture, Prasad’s deep analysis offers critical insights into how we can escape our current predicament, the doom loop, of his title.”
  Fiona Hill, author of There Is Nothing for You Here
• “In The Doom Loop, Eswar Prasad explains why the foundational institutions that underpinned global prosperity in the latter half of the twentieth century are now faltering, and why no obvious alternatives have emerged to stabilize the world that America built. With his signature clarity and insight, Prasad excoriates Western powers and the institutions they created, arguing their failure to adapt has deepened today’s crises. The Doom Loop is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the forces shaping the unraveling global order—and the urgent choices ahead as we attempt to forge a new one.”
  Raghuram Rajan, author of Fault Lines
• “In The Doom Loop, Eswar Prasad diagnoses the forces driving the fragmentation of the global economy. In a narrative of ambitious scope, he shows how a world that once seemed headed toward greater integration and harmony is now fraying at the seams. From currencies and trade to AI and alliances, The Doom Loop offers a compelling if sobering tour that should inform the thinking of leaders and citizens alike.”
  Robert E. Rubin, co-chair emeritus, Council on Foreign Relations and former US Treasury Secretary
• “Eswar Prasad has been a wise and prescient observer of the international financial system. With all that is changing, his latest perspective contained in this important volume will be very valuable to policymakers, investors, economists, and concerned citizens.”
  Lawrence H. Summers, Charles W. Eliot University Professor, Harvard University and former US Treasury Secretary
• “The Doom Loop offers a deeply insightful account of how economics, geopolitics, and technological change are interacting to amplify disorder across the globe. Understanding these dynamics is a prerequisite for rebuilding something better. Eswar Prasad’s compelling and clear-eyed analysis challenges us to rethink the foundations of international cooperation. It’s essential reading for those seeking to understand and help shape the turbulent era ahead.”
  Janet Yellen, Distinguished Fellow in Residence, Brookings Institution, former US Treasury Secretary, and former chair, Federal Reserve