Editor’s Note: A guest post by Habib Moudachirou, a Chicago-based global investor focused on growth strategy across international markets. He also serves as chairman of the board of French American Chamber of Commerce, Midwest. At a time of deepening geopolitical fragmentation, Habib offers a reminder that the foundations of global economic resilience are often built through quieter forms of cooperation.
What the Olympic Rings Tell Us
With the Milan Cortina Winter Olympic Games well underway and approximately 2,900 athletes from over 90 countries competing, the instantly recognizable five-ring Olympic symbol offers a powerful lens through which to think about how the world economy holds together and how it can navigate a period of overlapping crises.
Designed in 1913 by Pierre de Coubertin, the interlocking rings were meant to symbolize the union of the five inhabited continents and the international ideals of bringing nations together for the Olympic Games. The colors of the Olympic flag were also chosen so that each country of the world would be able to identify with at least one of the colors represented by their national flag, thereby representing universality and inclusiveness. Perhaps more importantly, no one ring stands alone, separate from the others. In today’s hyperconnected global economy, I draw from this sports-related design to create a larger economic metaphor, with rings converging around a circle of global economic resilience.
Instead of five continents, I see five forces that play similar and overlapping roles in bringing countries together: diplomacy, business and trade, culture, education, and sport. Taken together, these forces represent a soft-power construct, a term used by economists to describe a system of institutions and relationships based on mutual attraction and cooperation, rather than coercion. While this construct has been termed “optional” in many instances, it has been recognized for its economic significance, with empirical evidence supporting its impact on trade, investment, risk, and growth.
The Five Metaphorical Rings of Global Integration
In economic terms, the spirit of the Olympic rings parallels how countries build trust and minimize transactional frictions to expand the global opportunity set.
Diplomacy
I will start with diplomacy, which is the foundation upon which the rules-based environment is built, reducing political risk and keeping channels open even when formal political relationships are strained. The stronger the network and reputation for reliability, the easier it is to obtain capital on favorable terms and build lasting trade relationships. This trust is itself a form of national balance-sheet strength.
Business and Trade
Then, the second ring is business and trade. The rules-based trade system helps expand markets, allows for specialization, and accelerates the spread of new technologies. Research on mega-events like the Olympics indicates that hosting or even bidding to host the Games can boost exports by over 20 percent, mostly because such participation signals openness and credibility to trading partners. We understand that trade is not just the exchange of goods and services; it is also an expression of how connected or isolated a country wants to be.
Culture
Culture is the third bond and an important one as well. Cultural exports, like movies, music, visual arts, and food, define how the world views a country, making it more attractive to tourists, investors, and highly skilled migrants. In addition, cultural diplomacy, ranging from joint museum operations to language institutes, helps foster familiarity and understanding that eases tensions and brings nations closer. It is no surprise, then, that countries with high cultural profiles also score well in terms of soft power and wield disproportionate global influence compared to their relative economic clout.
Education
The fourth ring is education, in all its forms. International education and academic exchange are beginning to be recognized as integral parts of a country’s power and long-term competitiveness. Students who go abroad and learn or conduct joint research are unofficial ambassadors for their country’s economy, helping cement long-lasting ties between their home and host nations. Furthermore, research has also shown that students with international experience perform better in the job market and are perceived by potential employers as being more capable of assuming leadership positions.
Sports
Lastly, sports makes up the final ring in the metaphor. Major sporting events, like the Olympics or the World Cup, as well as smaller sporting events around the world serve as a reflection and amplification of global interconnectedness. They bring people and adversaries together, irrespective of gender, socio-economic background, ethnicity, and present opportunities for international cooperation between governments, firms, and civil society. Moreover, they stimulate investment in related sectors like infrastructure, tourism, and the broader sports economy.
How the Five Rings Help Avert Crises
In a world grappling with geopolitical conflict, political instability, inflationary pressures, migration tensions, social fragmentation, artificial intelligence (AI)-related risks, and labor market disruption, these five metaphorical “rings” provide a form of systemic risk management. They may not eliminate crises, but they reduce their probability and enhance our capacity to adapt.
When confronted with geopolitical and political risks, diplomacy, culture, and sports effectively provide off-ramps from conflict escalation. Culture and sport initiatives have long been used for decades as a means of rapprochement between nations when formal diplomacy is failing or politically difficult. Multilateral frameworks such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) rely on influence and partnership to align incentives around peace, security, and development, addressing underlying drivers of instability before they boil over into conflict. Conflict risks are one of the largest unpriced risks to trade, energy security, and financial stability.
Economic and inflation risks are also managed through these interconnected channels. Trade relationships and educational exchanges underpin a diversified supply chain and regional production networks that are less vulnerable to local disruptions. If disruptions do happen, whether from conflict, pandemics, or natural disasters, the density of international networks facilitates rerouting of logistics and reorganization of sourcing. In addition, countries that have high institutional credibility have lower risks and more stable demand for their exports, which stabilizes currencies and reduces imported inflation risks.
Another major crisis that the world is facing is immigration and social cohesion, which are becoming increasingly important issues for economic resilience. As a remedy, culture and education can help build bridges of mutual understanding and reduce the likelihood of succumbing to stereotypes, which is particularly important for societies that are experiencing large migration flows. Cultural exchanges and diplomacy humanize “the other,” making it more politically palatable to build pragmatic immigration and integration policies, rather than resorting to protectionism or xenophobia. In short, societies that are successful at managing ethnic diversity are more likely to get immigration policies right and avoid the political risks that lead to economic volatility.
Last of all, jobs, AI, and technological disruptions are simmering crises too. In this area, education, culture, and sports play an important role in preparing people for a world of work that increasingly relies on automation. Education and cultural exchanges help build skills and spark ideas that will allow us to navigate this new paradigm. In addition, sports and cultural activities have the potential for creating types of jobs that require a wide variety of skills, complementary to the tech-heavy world ahead of us. These jobs can be scaled up and localized, helping to offset the effects of technological unemployment.
Why This Matters for the Economy
Across the global economy, these five metaphorical rings are a macro-level shield against risk. They reduce the frequency and intensity of severe shocks like wars, sanctions, and policy reversals that destroy wealth and break down financial markets. They help build more resilient and trustworthy markets where trade, investment, and innovation can thrive across economic and political cycles. They also help cultivate more global-aware multi-talented citizens ready to meaningfully contribute in an increasingly fast-changing world.
Studies of soft power and exports demonstrate that admiration has a positive economic impact: it generates more trade and better terms of trade. In fact, countries that develop influence through diplomacy, culture, education, and sport, often see their businesses face fewer hurdles overseas, their brands command greater brand loyalty, and their currencies and assets command a reputation premium. For instance, United Nations research on peacebuilding shows that inclusive growth and cooperation reduce conflict risk, arguably the biggest unpriced risk for many of the world’s emerging and even some of its more mature economies.
In the end, these five metaphorical “rings” should be understood, not as separate economic forces, but as an underutilized insurance policy: an intangible but potent set of relationships and capabilities to help prevent, reduce the impact of, and even avert cascading crises of all kinds, be they geopolitical, economic, social, and technological. And just like for the Olympic rings, they are more powerful when interlocked. Supporting them is a strategy for protecting growth and keeping the world economy integrated enough to address problems that no single nation can solve on its own.
About the Author
Habib Moudachirou is a Chicago-based global investor focused on growth strategy across international markets. He is co-founder and Chief Investment Officer of V-Square Quantitative Management and serves as Board Chair and President of the French-American Chamber of Commerce, Midwest Chicago. He holds master’s degrees in Statistics & Data Science and Quantitative Finance from ENSAI and the University of Rennes, and a bachelor’s degree in Physics from the Sorbonne University Group in France.