Noted for May 19, 2013 http://t.co/qaFSjLS9zJ
10 minutes ago
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A Quick Guide to the Upcoming Contest for the Next MD of the IMF
By Arvind Subramanian and Nicolas Veron This note provides a quick guide—in the form of a table—to the likely candidates to succeed Dominique Strauss-Kahn as next Managing Director (MD) of the IMF, assuming that he resigns shortly. It also highlights some key points that must guide the process of selecting the next MD.
Need for urgent action. The IMF is at a critical juncture with lots of problems to solve, not least in Europe. A leadership vacuum and uncertainty must be avoided, which requires urgent initiatives by the larger players—the United States, Europe, China, Brazil, India, South Africa and others.
Europe can no longer claim the job of MD: Europe no longer has the divine right to this job, irrespective of the circumstances of the European incumbent’s (assumed) departure. The world has changed, and antiquated if unstated arrangements dating from 1945, in which a European heads the IMF and an American heads the World Bank, must keep pace with reality. The next MD must be selected on the basis of merit, which is not to be found only in Europe.
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The Future of the IMF
IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s detainment in New York City on Saturday has raised questions about the future of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The short answer to those questions is that the IMF will continue to do its job effectively with or without Mr. Strauss-Kahn as its leader. No individual is or should be indispensable to an institution, and the IMF is no exception to this rule. The IMF has a talented management team, a dedicated staff, and a broadly supportive membership.
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Japan: An Opportunity Slipping Away?
Last month, in a Washington Post outlook piece, I argued that if handled adroitly, the triple crisis facing Japan could be used to modernize the country’s politics. The government’s response to the disaster has been anything but adroit, and the opportunity to use the crisis to propel the nation forward is slipping away.
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Bernanke Did Not Bomb
On Wednesday afternoon, April 27, 2011, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke gave the first scheduled press conference by a Federal Reserve chairman immediately following a meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). Chairman Bernanke was sure footed and appeared not to be surprised by any of the questions. He answered most of the questions directly, although, like any public official, he did not always answer the question precisely and sometimes declined to do so.
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Foreign Manufacturing Multinationals and the Transformation of the Chinese Economy: Faustian Bargain to Trade Technology for Access?
Testimony before the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission Hearing on “Chinese State-Owned Enterprises and US-China Bilateral Investment” March 30, 2011
What is the relationship between foreign manufacturing multinational corporations (MNCs) and the expansion of indigenous technological and managerial technological capabilities among Chinese firms? How are foreign manufacturing MNCs changing the skill intensity of activities and the extent of value-added of operations within the domestic Chinese economy?
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Does Japan Need a FEMA?
On Sunday the Tokyo Electric Power Company announced that they had found puddles at the damaged Fukushima nuclear facility’s No. 2 reactor containing extraordinarily high levels of radioactivity—10 million times higher than would be found in water in a normally functioning nuclear reactor. Thirty minutes later they retracted the statement.
Thankfully the markets were closed and beyond the temporary scare, no lasting damage was done. But more serious problems have plagued the recovery effort and the Japanese political system is beginning to confront the possibility that emergency management reforms introduced after the 1995 Kobe earthquake have been inadequate.
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The Shadow Cast by U.S. Debt
Carmen M. Reinhart discusses how history teaches that large public and private debt impedes economic growth, a lesson that the United States must heed in the years ahead.
Edited transcript, recorded February 18, 2011. © Peterson Institute for International Economics.
Steve Weisman: It’s budget season, and Washington is dealing with steps to curb the American overhang of debt. This is Steve Weisman at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and with pleasure I welcome Carmen Reinhart, new senior fellow here at the Institute, for her first Peterson Perspectives interview. Thanks for joining me, Carmen.
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Will Political Liberalization Produce a New Peronism in the Middle East?
Compared to other regions of the world, the Middle East was once unique in its combination of authoritarianism and stultifying stability. No longer. Beginning in Tunisia, a wave of political upheaval has rolled across the region, reaching Egypt, Bahrain, Libya and other countries caught between rising expectations and their antediluvian political systems, abetted by pan-Arab news channels and social networking media.
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Why Portugal Needs a Bailout in One Chart
With Portuguese interest rates above the 7 percent level at which their sovereign debt—even if it is considerably lower than that of say Greece—becomes unsustainable, the point in time at which the country will be forced to accept an EU-IMF financial assistance package looks imminent.
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Egypt’s Rent Curse
The recent overthrow of President Mubarak offers great hope for Egypt’s future political development. But the challenge of economic transformation will be no less important, and arguably as difficult. This challenge is viewed as one of achieving greater globalization and a greater role for markets inside Egypt. The more fundamental challenge, however, is different.
