International-Monetary-Fund

Free thinking economists such as Mr Chossudovsky are few and far between. Please take the time to read about the reality of what we have been lured into.

These are some wonderful thougts that have stimulated my mind into asking the question "CanAfricansThink?".This book exposes the disguise of mainstream economics which leaves human society's precious values at the hands of economic lust.All Africans need to know about this big con job being operated under the disguise of macro economics.

Looking at case studies from around the developing world, backed up with a strong theoretical analysis of the IMF and World Bank's role in the international economy, the globalisation of poverty brings the reader to one stark conclusion: 'Poverty is an input on the supply side, (of the global economy.)' Particularly interesting is Chossudovsky's explanation of the economic 'miracle' of Vietnam, while his analysis of the Yugoslav disaster, co-sponsored by the IMF and international financial investors, is very timely indeed. As Chossudovsky explains, the IMF and World Bank reforms have not merely suppressed populist and socialist economic measures and achievements; they have also prevented the development of national capitalisms, by creating economies directed towards the needs of the capitalist core states, rather than to the national market. For those harbouring any illusions about the economic order which governs humanity at the end of this century, this book is a necessary read. It's a pity that Chossudovsky works at the University of Ottawa and not the LSE, an institution that definitely needs realistic economists like him.

The global economy, especially those aspects dealing with global finance, often appear to be intimidating in their complexity. Susan Strange decodes processes of finance and monetary policy and puts them in terms that just about anyone can understand. There is, in fact, nothing that complex about these processes at all. The metaphor of "casino capitalism" still holds...and they are playing with your money. One would do well to read this in combination with a book by George Soros. Comprehensive, but readable. A great book.

Please me know if this book will be tranlsated into Korean, in a few year

I would like to know if that book is going to be translate in french. Thank you.

A great book that reflects the real problems that lead to the economic crisis in December 2001. Today's Argentinian populist politicians should read this book to learn that the Convertibility system was not the cause of the problem but in fact it was the fiscal irresponsability of the provinces, causing fiscal deficits that were imposible to deal with.
If you need to study the Argentina case you should definitly buy this book and learn the truth about it.

I used this book for a business school "Central Banking" class recently. Michael Mussa really knew what he was talking about, and he writes concisely and elegantly.

He analyzed the effects on the Argentinian economy of irresponsbible fiscal and monetary policies. And in the process of doing so, he also convincingly illustrated the intercation between fiscal and monetary policies and its implications in steering the economy in general.

Best book written on Argentinian economy I have ever read. Two-thumbs up!

This short but powerful book provides the best and most concise review of the disastrous policies that have been developed by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Bello traces the origins of structural adjustment programs and then follows their effects into countries around the world.

Although originally published in 1994, the material is more relavent than ever. A MUST READ.

Bello provides a clear, concise and well evidenced argument that the structural adjustment programs of the IMF and World bank have sunk the countries of the global south into deeper and deeper debt and impovereshment. Bello sets this argument in the historical frame of the northern backlash against the rising economic power of the south. He also links the economic philosophy behind adjustment to the widening prosperity gap and falling real wages in the north.

A must read for all those curios about the World Bank and IMF and why people are against them.

While most economists are still puzzled by the most recent foreign exchange and banking crises - such as the ones that took place last year in Argentina and Uruguay - and some of them (like Stiglitz) are proposing reckless and innefective solutions, such as abolishing the IMF and most of the existing international agencies, Jean Tirole presents a more pensive and fruitful explanation of why these crises occur, and sheds new light towards a much more effective solution. His approach is based on a new field of agency theory called Corporate Finance, which deals with the set of institutions that make it credible for the suppliers of funds to recover their investments in an specific firm.

Tirole applies the basic principles of the prudential regulation of banks, that he worked before in collaboration with Mathias Dewatripont (MIT Press, 1994, ISBN: 0262041464), and which contains much of what we have learned through the twentieth century about financial crises. According to this approach, both the international financial and monetary systems would work much better if we had international risk classifying agencies on the one hand, providing information to investors about the liquidity and solvency of debtor countries, and a lender of last resort on the other. The trouble with the IMF is that it tries to perform both functions.

However, what makes external borrowing more complicated than a typical financial arrangement is the presence of a third player, that is the borrower's government which has both the incentives and the means to affect the foreing investor's return by manipulating the exchange rate or the capital mobility. Because the investors' return is affected by the behaviour of two agents, the borrower himself and its government, Tirole calls this a dual agency problem.

Tirole proposes an institutional reform in which the IMF should redefine its original mission, by concentrating in the role of facilitating the country's favourable access to foreign borrowing. This role underlies the (controversial) task of pre-qualification and conditionality. The IMF should also redefine its internal structure if it wants to perform well this new role. Its Board of Governors is too big and too heterogeneous to allow rapid and efficient decisions.

In summary, this book presents and original and groundbreaking approach to financial crises which, as we expected from the beginning, arises more questions than answers. However, we know that the only way to find the appropriate solution to a problem is by formulating the right questions, and this is exactly what Tirole does. I am convinced that if the international agencies follow this approach they will soon find the right way to prevent or to lessen international financial crises, in the same way as central banks and financial regulatory agencies did with domestic banking crises during the last century.

Tirole has written an invaluable book that sheds light to a complex and extremley actual topic. By showing once again his seriousness as an economist (as opposed to others; i.e. Stiglitz), he goes back to first principles to understand the source of problems in international contracts. The application of modern corporate finance to international finance is extraordinary.
Even the first chapters should be obligatory reading to any student of international macro (even in the first macro course). The first one gives a concise history of modern currency crisis -the so called first twenty-first century crisis- while the second one masterfully summarizes the economists views on the subject.
Good economics, great topic, amazing timing.

The growing movement against neo-liberal policies needs more books like this, one that really examine if their propaganda matches up tough scrutiny. As Vreeland discusses to much of supposed statistical studies showing the harms of IMF policies mearly state "countries in IMF conditionalities do worse in criteria X than countries that do not" which he cmpares to simply saying people who go to a doctor are found to be sicker than those who do not. This book - not the final answer to the question - provides a first good study of the effects of IMF programs. While he dose find that IMF programs do negatively effect growth I believe many who have organized against the IMF will be surprised by how small the difference is. His findings that the programs exacerbate economic inequality are hardly new yet are a nice new addition to the literature. Most interesting - and where this book is a serious and importantant contribution is inhis studies on the what determines a countries participation in the IMF program. Combiming anecdotal evidence, logical anlysis and statistical studies he shows that it is largely determined by desire of the executive branch to have the conditions imposed on their country. To the extent that this is accuarate then the anti-IMF movement might need to rewrite its propaganda of the IMF being about class war of the first world nations against the third world countries to being about class war from the world capitalist against the world's workers.

In this book Vreeland offers a cogent analysis of why governments enter into IMF agreements, and identifies startling effects of the effect of such programs on host country economic performance.

Unlike Stiglitz in "Globalization and Its Discontents," Vreeland takes a quantitative approach in measuring the effects of IMF programs. His work seems less concerned with the empty rhetoric that surrounds the anti-globalization movement that have pre-occupied many IMF crtics, and instead draws heavily upon statstical evidence.

Not the only book published recently about the IMF in academia, but certainly one of the better ones.

This book is a "must read" for the serious scholar of IMF programs. It is structured in three parts: a series of short essays on issues relating to conditionality, several country studies of IMF programs and conclusions and policy implications. The book was originally written as a compilation of the proceedings of a conference sponsored by the Institute for International Economics.

The book is superbly organized and features a star-studded cast of economists in policy, business and academia (though it is fairly heavily slanted towards academics). All the major topics relating to IMF conditionality are covered; the effectiveness of IMF programs, contrasts between stabilization and structural adjustment (and the Fund vs. the Bank), and the impact of IMF programs on poverty and income distribution. Every few chapters is followed by comments by such noted individuals as Jeff Sachs, Richard Cooper, Bela Balassa, and Rudiger Dornbusch. The book thus covers a range of individual attitudes and opinions. The third major section, which consists of "opinion pieces" and summaries, is particularly valuable in providing interesting insights and policy suggestions to the overall picture.

Given the increasing importance the International Monetary Fund has assumed in the post-Cold War world, books such as this should assume increasing importance. It does tend towards the technical, but given its origins, this should not be seen as much of a liability.

Quite the read: fluid, sober, well written and systematic in its approach. Pioneering the approach to this question, Randall Stone utilizes many different tools to present his argument and send his message. Not only is it sound in its argument, but also an enjoyable read. Anyone interested in real research about the impact of the IMF should consult this book.

This book gives the reader an intimate glimpse of one pivotal moment during the struggle to stop the Arun III mega-damn project in Nepal. The writer, Anna Paskal, takes the reader along on her trek up the Arun Valley with a group of local and international activists, reporters and filmmakers. She makes a point to present to the reader the, at times, precariously diverging agendas of all of those on the trek. Her willingness to expose her emotional and intellectual responses to the various situations the group finds itself in gives the text a raw immediate feeling. The snippets from interviews of government officials and activists that she weaves into her tale lend this travelogue unexpected depth. For me, the only drawback of this book is that I would have liked to hear more about the time the author spent before and after the trek. Overall, this book is a quick, truly worthwhile read.

"The Water Gods", might be good for anyone interested in the politics behind World Bank sponsored aid programs, international activism or the rural people and politics of Nepal.

This is a highly readable account about a serious economic crisis that most Americans missed. But Blustein makes you care--and makes you understand why the so-called Committee to Save the World (Greenspan, Rubin and Summers) made some poor choices and only through sheer luck managed to escape with their reputations enhanced. Blustein's description of the International Monetary Fund is eye-opening, and he will make you think twice the next time you read a story buried in the business section about another IMF loan to a struggling country. Blustein knows his stuff and has done his homework. This is a rare book that teaches you something new--and makes you think.

As an economics professor, I'm always skeptical of books about economics written by journalists. Economics can be quite complicated, and far too often journalists without serious (graduate-level) training in economics show a remarkable lack of understanding of even basic economic issues. They pose as "experts" but they don't really know what they're talking about...

So I was very pleasantly surprised when I picked up this book. Blustein does a really impressive job of examining in detail the crisis of 1997-1998 and the role of the IMF. The economics is impeccable and he explains it clearly. And he's tremendously effective at bringing to life the "drama" of the crisis and the very difficult decisions that policy-makers face during a crisis like this one.

I also appreciated the fact that, while being quite critical of the IMF, Blustein is also balanced in his assessment, and careful about avoiding gratuitous "IMF bashing" and about making it clear that there are a lot of very smart people at the IMF who work very hard to do their job well.

This is a great book for anybody who wants to gain a greater understanding of the international financial system and of the role of the IMF. Lively, accurate, never boring, it's one of the best non-technical books about an economic event that I've ever read.

Here's an amazingly well written book on an obtuse subject (the IMF and the economics of currencies) that tells a compelling story of the attempts to deal with the contagion crises in the late 90's. The book is very non-idelogical as it demonstrates the best efforts made by the IMF, World Bank, US Treasury & Fed, as well as the Central Banks of Europe and Japan to deal with the appearence of currency runs as they struck various developing nations.

While the book is not hawking a political slant, it is very honest about the fact that the IMF's solutions were at best partly successful. It addresses the very real concern that attempts to bail out countries in crises is really bailing Wall Street investors who took foolish risks with taxpayer money.

For a subject that has little coverage outside of technical studies this is a very good book.