Educational Media Reviews Online

In the backdrop of the financial crisis that began in 2007, The World’s Next Supermodel poses the question, “Is the world economy ready for a new economic model, over the United States’ seemingly fail neo-liberal capitalism?” Three renowned specialists supply their responses of, “yes,” “no,” and “it depends,” respectively. Each scrutinizes the proposed models on the bases of sustainability, resistance to financial crises, social responsibility, environmental concerns, and growth potential.

Erudite yet blunt, the “jury members” for the proposed models hold nothing back, in deference and disagreement. Comments and criticism stay at the macro level throughout, discussing issues such as labor supply, natural resources, monetary policy, technology, trends in multinational business, society and government. In the unfolding debates, models based on the economies of China, Brazil, and “northwest Europe” are presented. The collective selection of these three experts is quite surprising.

This work is simply outstanding. Despite the gravity of the issues, the film has a somewhat light-hearted tone which is welcome. Though the debate becomes slightly pointed at times, the arguments are made in a constructive manner. The content is very well structured, with consistent “outlined” text headings, such as “Crisisproof?” used for each of the three models. This is an excellent work for anyone interested in examining present economic models and forecasting the state of the global economy by 2020.