Home what's New Site Map Site Index International Monetary Fund Search About the IMF IMF at Work IMF Finances Country Info News Publications The Mf Strikes back Espanol Francais By Kenneth Rogoff Economic Counsellor and Director of the Research Department International Monetary Fund Reproduced with permission from FOREIGN POLICY 134 Febr 003)ww1.foreignpolicy. cor Kenneth sRogor Copyright 2003, by the Carnegie Endowment for Imternational Peace Slammed by antiglobalist protesters, developing-country politicians, and An Open Letter to Nobel Prize-winning economists, the International Monetary Fund(IMF) has become Global Scapegoat Number One. But IMF economists are not evil, nor are they invariably wrong It's time to set the record straight and focus on more pressing economic debates, such as how best to promote global growth and financial stability Commentaries for 2003200220012000 19991998 Vitriol against the IMF, including personal attacks on the competence and integrity of its staff, has transcended into an art form in recent People's Republic of years. One bestselling author labels all new fund recruits as"third- China and the IMF rate, implies that management is on the take, and discusses the IMF's role in the asian financial crisis of the late 1990s in the same breath Germany and the ImF as Nazi Germany and the holocaust. Even more sober and balanced critics of the institution--such as Washington Post writer Paul and the ImF The Chastening, should be required reading for prospective fund ls Republic of Korea Blustein, whose excellent inside account of the Asian financial crisis titles that Mexico and the mF economists (and their spouses)find themselves invoke the devil. Really, doesn't The Chastening sound like a sequel Russian federation to 1970s horror flicks such as The Exorcist or The Omen? Perhaps and the ImF this race to the bottom is a natural outcome of market forces. After all, in a world of 24-hour business news, there is a huge return to Thailand and the IMF being introduced as"the leading critic of the IMF E-Mail Notificatio Regrettably, many of the charges frequently leveled against the fund Subscribe reveal deep confusion regarding its policies and intentions. Other criticisms, however, do hit at potentially fundamental weak spots in current IMF practices. Unfortunately, all the recrimination and finger subscription pointing make it difficult to separate spurious critiques from legitimate concerns. Worse yet, some of the deeper questions that ought to be at the heart of these debates-issues such as poverty, appropriate exchange-rate systems, and whether the global financial system enco outages developing countries to take on excessive debt- are too easily ignored Consider the four most common criticisms against the fund: First,An Open Letter to Joseph Stiglitz, by Kenneth Rogoff Views & Commentaries for 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 People's Republic of China and the IMF Germany and the IMF Republic of Korea and the IMF Mexico and the IMF Russian Federation and the IMF Thailand and the IMF Kenneth S. Rogoff E-Mail Notification Subscribe or Modify your subscription The IMF Strikes Back By Kenneth Rogoff Economic Counsellor and Director of the Research Department International Monetary Fund Reproduced with permission from FOREIGN POLICY 134 (January/February 2003) www.foreignpolicy.com Copyright 2003, by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Vitriol against the IMF, including personal attacks on the competence and integrity of its staff, has transcended into an art form in recent years. One bestselling author labels all new fund recruits as "third￾rate," implies that management is on the take, and discusses the IMF's role in the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s in the same breath as Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. Even more sober and balanced critics of the institution—such as Washington Post writer Paul Blustein, whose excellent inside account of the Asian financial crisis, The Chastening, should be required reading for prospective fund economists (and their spouses)—find themselves choosing titles that invoke the devil. Really, doesn't The Chastening sound like a sequel to 1970s horror flicks such as The Exorcist or The Omen? Perhaps this race to the bottom is a natural outcome of market forces. After all, in a world of 24-hour business news, there is a huge return to being introduced as "the leading critic of the IMF." Regrettably, many of the charges frequently leveled against the fund reveal deep confusion regarding its policies and intentions. Other criticisms, however, do hit at potentially fundamental weak spots in current IMF practices. Unfortunately, all the recrimination and finger pointing make it difficult to separate spurious critiques from legitimate concerns. Worse yet, some of the deeper questions that ought to be at the heart of these debates—issues such as poverty, appropriate exchange-rate systems, and whether the global financial system encourages developing countries to take on excessive debt— are too easily ignored. Consider the four most common criticisms against the fund: First, Español Français Slammed by antiglobalist protesters, developing-country politicians, and Nobel Prize–winning economists, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has become Global Scapegoat Number One. But IMF economists are not evil, nor are they invariably wrong. It’s time to set the record straight and focus on more pressing economic debates, such as how best to promote global growth and financial stability