ARTIKEL /ARTICLES Exiting from the Crisis: Towards a Model for More Equitable and Sustainable Growth JOHN EVANS AND DAVID COATS G 20 leaders at Pittsburgh committed themselves to putting»quality employment at the heart of the recovery,« but it is clear that they have not lived up to their promise. Far from receding, the economic crisis may simply be moving to another – and potentially more dangerous – stage. Governments appear to have embraced austerity policies with en­thusiasm while seeking export-led recoveries. But the underlying causes of the crisis – global imbalances, inadequate regulation of international financial markets, weak institutions for global economic governance – have yet to be addressed and the risk is that the recovery will be sluggish, with jobless growth and persistently high unemployment. From a trade union standpoint the development of an alternative demands that governments must focus on the following two priorities: in the short term the implementation of measures to reduce unemployment; and in the medium term the development of a new model of growth that is balanced, sustainable, creates decent work and distributes income fairly. The trade union effort to develop alternative policies is being man­aged by a Trade Union Task Force on a New Growth Model. Established by tuac , the etui , the ituc and gurn , the Task Force’s report is being published in the first part of 2011 with contributions from more than 30 authors drawn from the trade union movement and institutions sympathetic to organized labor. The Failure of a Model The starting point for this enterprise is the belief that the global financial and economic crisis has invalidated the assumptions on which economic policy has been based for the past thirty years. The view that light-touch regulation, limited government, low taxes, labor market deregulation, and weak labor market institutions are all necessary ingredients of eco­nomic success has proved to be a recipe for volatility, excessive risk 22 Evans/Coats, Exiting from the Crisis ipg 2/2011