Our International Institutions Are Failing Us (Or Are We Failing Them?)

Our International Institutions Are Failing Us (Or Are We Failing Them?)

Our international institutions seem to be failing us. Just look around: Economists, analysts and other writers who have long looked to the World Bank's "Doing Business" report for key data on country rankings recently learned the numbers were manipulated. These were data irregularities, according to the World Bank. This is devastating news because its self-proclaimed mission is to "provide a wide array of financial products and technical assistance, and help countries share and apply innovative knowledge." What's worse is that the person who reportedly oversaw the manipulation of the rankings now heads the International Monetary Fund. Then there's the new head of the World Trade Organization, who is rumored to already be over the job and threatening to quit due to the inability of the organization to move anything forward. The mission of the WTO is to deal with the global rules of trade between nations. Its main function "is to ensure that trade flows as smoothly, predictably and freely as possible." Willing participants have signed on to eliminate tariffs on high tech goods and increase potential for market access in government procurement, but the most pressing trade issues of the current day—overfishing, intellectual property and cyber theft, and subsidies—seem