Global Public Investment: Redesigning International Public Finance for Social Cohesion—A Preliminary Sketch

Over the past decade a growing body of work has begun to engage with the task of rethinking development finance for the 21st century. In a field dominated by innovative finance and sector- specific proposals, this paper sets out to consider the case for a more structured system of international fiscal allocations: Global Public Investment. The core characteristics of Global Public Investment are its potential to enhance the supply of public goods, services and infrastructure globally, through raising each year a nominal, fixed portion of national income as GPI funds and re-allocating those marked funds on a per-capita or other needs-indexed basis. In such a scheme all countries would pay in according to ability and receive according to need and all would have a fair share in negotiating contributions and priority-setting alike. The paper begins by overviewing four historical dynamics presently bringing the seven-decades old system of ODA to an end and examines whether GPI represents a feasible means of addressing the problem of ?the end of aid? (Severino and Ray, 2009). It then considers what such a system of structured international public finance would focus on before turning to examine some of the critiques and challenges that any form of statutory international public finance must address. The second half of the paper outlines how a system of GPI might possibly work in practice before turning, finally, to consider the centrality of social cohesion to this vision. The potential role of GPI in enhancing social cohesion is considered in relation to increased cooperation, democratic engagement, and social productivity. JEL Codes: B52, F02, F35, F38, F55, H39, H4.