Radical thinking needed from G-20 finance chiefs in Shanghai

HIGH-LEVEL meetings of government officials almost always have an element of "show business" to them. But this week's meeting of G-20 financial leaders in Shanghai needs to go beyond comforting illusion and into real substance.

Neither the global economy nor financial markets are in good shape. In this situation, the usual commitments to restore growth and pursue structural reforms will do little to ease the concerns of a worried international community.

New growth engines urgently need to be identified and to this end, China's Finance Minister Lou Jiwei is expected to stress the potential of "innovation" as a means to raise global productivity when he and others address fellow finance ministers and central bank governors in Shanghai. That no doubt is a worthwhile objective, as is Chinese President Xi Jinping's vision of massive infrastructural development across the Eurasian continent. But the G-20 needs to come up with new thinking on how to finance and facilitate growth as well as on how to calm markets.