In Permacrisis: A Plan to Fix a Fractured World, Mohamed El-Erian and Michael Spence, along with their coauthors, Gordon Brown and Reid Lidow, consider how we’ve arrived at this state of constant instability and insecurity—and suggest concrete ways to break the cycle.

Mohamed El-Erian, president of Queens’ College Cambridge University, was previously the chair of President Obama’s Global Development Council, a Deputy Director at the International Monetary Fund, and CEO and co-CIO of PIMCO.

Michael Spence, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and the Philip H. Knight Professor and dean, emeritus, at Stanford Graduate School of Business, was awarded the 2001 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.

Together with Martin Reeves, the Chairman of the BCG Henderson Institute, El-Erian and Spence discuss new approaches to thinking about growth, economic management, and managing a global order, as well as how leaders could unlock the full potential of technologies that could drive growth, and ensure that the benefits of technological advancements, like AI, are widely distributed to avoid exacerbating national tensions.

Key topics discussed: 

01:59 | Defining permacrisis

08:58 | The essence of how we need to think differently about growth and value

10:32 | Unlocking the full potential of technologies that could drive growth

14:09 | How to ensure that the benefits of technological advancements, like AI, are widely distributed to avoid exacerbating national tensions

19:40 | Anticipating or managing similar crises (COVID-19) in the future

25:15 | Reforming multilateral institutions