How can international institutions be designed to effectively incentivize the provision of global public goods in the face of existential threats? Scott Barrett, an economist specializing in international cooperation, examines the structural challenges inherent in collective action problems. He argues that the success of global initiatives depends on aligning individual state incentives with the broader goal of providing public goods, such as climate stability and disease control, through strategic institutional design.

Experts frequently cite this work as a foundational text for understanding the economic incentives behind international cooperation. Readers often note the clarity of the prose, which makes complex game theory concepts accessible to those outside the field of economics.