Published in Foreign Policy, 2024
This essay argues that the United States will do well for the world and even better for itself if it becomes better assured and more confident of its place in the international system. That, however, does not mean its being no. 1.
Recommended citation: Quah, Danny. 2024. "Why America Should Drop Its Obsession With Being No. 1" Foreign Policy (Fall) pp. 41-43.
Paper | Slides
Published in Recalibrating Asia's Frontiers, 38th Asia-Pacific Roundtable, Institute of Strategic and International Studies ISIS Malaysia Focus issue no. 24, 2025
This article argues that (too often) we view ourselves as mere price takers and never think to exercise agency to influence the direction of conflict and disruption.
Recommended citation: Quah, Danny. 2025. "China Plus One vs world minus one", in Recalibrating Asia's Frontiers, 38th Asia-Pacific Roundtable, Institute of Strategic and International Studies ISIS Malaysia Focus issue no. 24, pp. 33-35
Paper
Published in Besley, Tim, Bucelli, Irene, and Velasco, Andres (eds.) The London Consensus: Economic Principles for the 21st Century, 2025
This paper analyses the impact of trade and technology on aggregate economic performance where poor nations are cheap. The most successful economies are extraordinarily rich without having to be unusually complex.
Recommended citation: Quah, Danny. 2025. "Response to Ricardo Hausmann by Danny Quah: The Trade-Technology Relation in Small and Poor Economies", in Besley, Tim, Bucelli, Irene, and Velasco, Andres (eds.) The London Consensus: Economic Principles for the 21st Century.
Paper
Published in Ing, Lili Yan and Rodrik, Dani (eds) The New Global Economic Order, Routledge, 2025
This paper argues that in a fracturing world order, paradoxically, geopolitics and trade align. It is, thus, a fallacy that geopolitics and economics provide a balance through working in opposition in a fragmenting global economy.
Recommended citation: Quah, Danny. 2026. "Correlated Trade and Geopolitics Driving a Fractured World Order." Ch. 5, pp. 54-66, in Ing, Lili Yan and Rodrik, Dani (eds.) The New Global Economic Order, Routledge.
Paper
Published in Straits Times, 2025
This article argues that the US withdrawing from the multilateral trading system is not an existential crisis.
Recommended citation: Quah, Danny. 2025. "Concede or Resist", Straits Times (02 Sep), pp. 22-23
Paper
Published in IMF Finance and Development, 2025
This article argues that international cooperation can advance even when the most powerful players are at odds.
Recommended citation: Quah, Danny. 2025. "Multilateralism Can Survive the Loss of Consensus" IMF Finance and Development (Sep), pp. 12-13
Paper