The Rhodes Center Podcast with Mark Blyth The ‘doom loop’ of global disorder
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Mar 20, 2026 
Eswar Prasad, Cornell professor and author studying globalization and macroeconomics, unpacks the “doom loop” of economic, political and geopolitical instability. He maps how fragile institutions, China’s rise, currency dynamics and middle‑power choices deepen tensions. Short, sharp takes on why repair is hard and what resilience and reform would need to look like.
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Threeway Negative Feedback Between Economy Politics And Geopolitics
- The Doom Loop is a negative feedback cycle where economics, domestic politics, and geopolitics amplify each other's harms.
- Globalization's gains masked dislocations and elite capture, fueling resentment and political backlash in many countries.
Globalization Created Visible Losers And Perceptions Of Unfairness
- Globalization delivered aggregate gains but created concentrated losers who feel blocked from upward mobility.
- Technological change plus policy choices (tax and regulation) amplified elite advantage, producing perceptions of a rigged system.
Fragile Institutions Allowed The Doom Loop To Emerge
- The doom loop was not inevitable; it emerged because institutions and norms proved more fragile than expected.
- Fragile norms allowed political capture and populist impulses to translate economic grievances into anti-system politics.
