The Top Ten Ways to End an Upbeat Book About the Global Economy in 2013

Sometime in the next 48 hours your humble blogger will be sending The System Worked: How the World Stopped Another Great Depression off to the publisher. After I click "send," I’ll get a chance to do some very minor revisions at what’s called the "page proof" stage — but this is pretty much the last ...

By Daniel W. Drezner, a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast.

October 30, 2013, 1:18 PM

Sometime in the next 48 hours your humble blogger will be sending The System Worked: How the World Stopped Another Great Depression off to the publisher. After I click "send," I'll get a chance to do some very minor revisions at what's called the "page proof" stage -- but this is pretty much the last moment I can tinker with the manuscript.

Sometime in the next 48 hours your humble blogger will be sending The System Worked: How the World Stopped Another Great Depression off to the publisher. After I click "send," I’ll get a chance to do some very minor revisions at what’s called the "page proof" stage — but this is pretty much the last moment I can tinker with the manuscript.

As I type this, I’m pretty pleased with most of it. But, as I tweeted last night:

I like everything about this book manuscript that I’m about to finish except for the last few sentences. They suck eggs. #authorproblems

— Daniel Drezner (@dandrezner) October 30, 2013

Now I think I’ve figured out the proper, quasi-academic-y way to close out the book. But inspired by some of the awesome responses I received via social media, I got to thinking — what is the best way to end a moderately upbeat book about the global economy in the Twitter Age?

Without further ad, here’s my Top Ten list:

10) "In conclusion, global economic governance did its job and rocked you like a hurricane."

9) "Stepping back, the global economy could have broken bad — but it didn’t. As it turns out, global finance isn’t the one who knocks — it’s the G-20."

8) "In lieu of a proper conclusion, I hope you enjoyed the 54 Ways that Global Economic Governance is as Awesome as Benedict Cumberbatch."

7) "Yo, Imma let you finish, Great Recession, but the Great Depression was the greatest economic downturn of all time!!"

6) "To sum up, an analytically eclectic approach demonstrates that global economic governance functioned well after 2008. Thanks for reading, awesome nerds!!"

5) "In short, the system worked, I am right, and everyone else is wrong. Haters gonna hate now!! I’m out. #YOLO"

4) "The Fiscal Avengers #addawordtoamovietitletomakeitaboutglobaleconomicgovernance."

3) "In toto, the global economy NEEDS MOAR OPTIMISM."

2) "As I’ve shown, the only reason the system worked was because of unfettered capital flows. (last sentence sponsored content from Goldman Sachs)."

1) "Finally, it’s worth remembering that it could have been so much worse — there could have been zombies."

Readers are strongly encouraged to suggest their own closing sentences — in 140 characters or less.

Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner