The problem with analogies to peace settlements is that, so long as you can get every major armed group to agree on them, there are no borders which are fundamentally unworkable. They can be impractical, but any peace agreement that can be reached between every major stakeholder can be upheld.

By contrast, there are forms of economic organization which cannot work, no matter how great the unanimity is among the relevant stakeholders that they should be made to work. Every Eurozone state can ratify a paper saying that every state should be a net exporter. But as long as the Euro floats against the yen and dollar, and so long as China retains its current development strategy, that is not going to happen in the real world.

The rules of addition and subtraction are not subject to political compromise.

- Jake

If you only spend 20 minutes of the rest of your life on economics, go spend them here.