Welcome to the new age of geoeconomics

LAST weekend in Washington, near the White House, dozens of economists from universities and institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) gathered to discuss the state of “geoeconomics”.

Geo-what? some readers might ask. No wonder: until recently, this word was little used, since it seemed at odds with modern norms.

That is because the phrase describes how governments can use economic and financial policies to play power games. But in the 20th century free-market intellectual framework – which is the one in which most Western professionals built their careers – it was generally assumed that rational economic self-interest ruled the roost, not grubby politics. Politics seemed to be derivative of economics, not the other way around.