Even a journal as sober and honest as PS is comfortable, it would appear, in using the term "global economy" without qualification. But there's a touch of nebulosity. Said "economy" is understood by many of us as denoting the complex machinery that facilitates not only a rational exchange of goods across borders but also a spirit of civilized cooperation between nations, the aim of such cooperation being to avoid bad outcomes for us all.

On the other hand it may be argued that "the economy" denotes, in large measure if not primarily, a vast endeavor on the part of the world's nations to foment superfluous consumption. One can observe without being cynical that governments do not in general place any constraint on such fomentation: superfluous consumption is in reality the categorical imperative of our time. It could indeed be argued that what "the economy" denotes is a complex machine that ultimately will condemn humanity, along with more rational life forms, to extinction.