A collection of essays is only ever as good as its contributors. Here, every contribution is timely, insightful and interesting. Indeed the writers are those who were at the heart of the recent global boom and have also experienced the bust.

There's a good mix of business leaders, academics and consultants as well as a balance between global players, such as Alan Greenspan and Jim O'Neill (the Goldman Sachs chief economist), and UK-centric authors, including Lib Dem deputy leader Vince Cable and business secretary Lord Mandelson. Business is represented with an introduction from Sir Richard Branson and contributions from Peter Jones and Marks & Spencer's Sir Stuart Rose.

If the essays don't shy from asking tough questions about globalisation, the answers tend to favour a positive outlook. The only caveat is the recognition that manifestly unjust globalisation isn't desirable. The highlight piece is a wonderful essay by Harvard's Nobel prize-winning economist Amartya Sen, who brilliantly unpicks recent calls for a "new kind of capitalism".