With the Group of 20 summit coming this week, it is worth considering what the criteria for admittance into this powerful international collation are, and whether or not the current members meet these standards.
The National Taxpayers Union recently sponsored an in-depth study examining the current member countries, and found that the economic records of four nations make them a liability to the stability of the group, suggesting that they ought to be replaced by four new countries with strong records of economic performance.
With the mission of the G-20 being essentially to bring together those nations who can best encourage economic growth and stabilize international markets, it is imperative that member nations possess strong domestic economies, follow the rule of law, and maintain a strong financial-services market.
After carefully analyzing the ability of the current member nations to contribute positively to these goals however, four countries---Argentina, Indonesia, Mexico, and Russia---were identified as being possible liabilities to the economic welfare of the collation.
On the upside, the authors of the study note that four current non-members---Malaysia, Norway, Singapore, and Switzerland---meet or exceed the criteria for membership, and if added would contribute positively to the mission of the G-20 while maintaining the original balance of member nations.
The goal of this discussion is not to call out or criticize any one nation, but instead to revisit the reasons for the Group of 20’s formation in the first place, and to bring onboard the most qualified nations to help stabilize, revitalize, and ultimately grow the world economy for all nations.