As such, in tandem with well-targeted welfare policies, they are a key part of the policy toolbox for making openness sustainable. Implications for the global economy Clearly, the European model involves several unique features. In particular, it depends on a relatively advanced political structure that helps reconcile multilateral cooperation with democratic control, which is difficult to replicate elsewhere.
Still, EU countries are generally more open than other advanced economies and perhaps have fewer problems of skewed income distribution.21 So what lessons can we draw for the global economy from our experience? The most salient is that, at a time when disaffection with openness is growing, multilateral institutions become more, not less important.