Banking on Reform: Can Volcker, Vickers and Liikanen Resolve the Too-Important-to-Fail Conundrum?

Posted on May 14, 2013 by iMFdirect

by José Viñals and Ceyla Pazarbasioglu

The global regulatory landscape governing banks has changed from its pre-crisis status quo.

In addition to the Group of Twenty advanced and emerging economies led global regulatory reforms, like Basel III, the United States and the United Kingdom have decided to directly impose limits on the scope of banks’ businesses. The European Union is contemplating a similar move.

We discussed these structural banking reforms a few weeks ago with officials from finance ministries, central banks, and supervisory authorities from around the world during the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings. The design and implementation of these measures will have implications for global financial stability and sustainable growth, so we wanted to bring people together for the first global debate of the issue with G20 and other countries.

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Filed under: Advanced Economies, Europe, Finance, Financial Crisis, Financial regulation, Financial sector supervision, G-20, IMF, International Monetary Fund | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Inclusive and Sustained Growth in Asia: The Role of Fiscal Policy

Posted on May 8, 2013 by iMFdirect

ASinghBy Anoop Singh

(Versions in 中文 and 日本語)

Fiscal management has improved in Asia over the past decade. It has become more responsive to economic conditions and thereby helped stabilize growth, especially during the global financial crisis. While these are important achievements, major challenges still lie ahead—as our latest Asia and Pacific Regional Economic Outlook points out.

What are these key challenges? In a nutshell, fiscal policy can, and should do more to make Asia’s growth sustainable and more inclusive.

In the near term, budget consolidation has to proceed as the recovery takes hold to rebuild the fiscal space needed to respond to future output fluctuations.

At the same time several emerging and low income economies need to create room for higher infrastructure and social spending to support long-term growth, reduce income inequality, and fight poverty.

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Filed under: Advanced Economies, Asia, Economic Crisis, Emerging Markets, Finance, Financial Crisis, growth, IMF, International Monetary Fund | Tagged: , , , | Leave a Comment »

The Lessons of the North Atlantic Crisis for Economic Theory and Policy

Posted on May 3, 2013 by iMFdirect

Joseph_E._StiglitzGuest post by: Joseph E. Stiglitz
Columbia University, New York, and co-host of the Conference on Rethinking Macro Policy II: First Steps and Early Lessons

(Versions in 中文, Français, 日本語, and Русский)

In analyzing the most recent financial crisis, we can benefit somewhat from the misfortune of recent decades. The approximately 100 crises that have occurred during the last 30 years—as liberalization policies became  dominant—have given us a wealth of experience and mountains of data.  If we look over a 150 year period, we have an even richer data set.

With a century and half of clear, detailed information on crisis after crisis, the burning question is not How did this happen? but How did we ignore that long history, and think that we had solved the problems with the business cycle? Believing that we had made big economic fluctuations a thing of the past took a remarkable amount of hubris.

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Filed under: Advanced Economies, Debt Relief, Economic Crisis, Emerging Markets, Europe, Finance, Financial Crisis, growth, IMF, International Monetary Fund | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments »

Preventing The Next Catastrophe: Where Do We Stand?

Posted on May 3, 2013 by iMFdirect

David RomerGuest post by David Romer
University of California, Berkeley, and co-host of Rethinking Macro II: First Steps and Early Lessons

(Versions in 中文, 日本語, and Русский)

As I listened to the presentations and discussions, I found myself thinking about the conference from two perspectives. One is intellectual: Are we asking provocative questions? Are interesting ideas being proposed? Are we talking about important issues? By that standard, the conference was very successful: the discussion was extremely stimulating, and I learned a great deal.

The second perspective is practical: Where do we stand in terms of averting another financial and macroeconomic disaster? By that standard, unfortunately, I fear we are not doing nearly as well. As I will describe, my reading of the evidence is that the events of the past few years are not an aberration, but just the most extreme manifestation of a broader pattern. And the relatively modest changes of the type discussed at the conference, and that in some cases policymakers are putting into place, are helpful but unlikely to be enough to prevent future financial shocks from inflicting large economic harms.

Thus, I believe we should be asking whether there are deeper reforms that might have a large effect on the size of the shocks emanating from the financial sector, or on the ability of the economy to withstand those shocks. But there has been relatively little serious consideration of ideas for such reforms, not just at this conference but in the broader academic and policy communities.

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Filed under: Advanced Economies, Economic Crisis, Economic research, Emerging Markets, Europe, Finance, Financial Crisis, Financial regulation, Fiscal policy, growth, IMF, International Monetary Fund, Latin America, Public debt | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments »

The Cat in the Tree and Further Observations: Rethinking Macroeconomic Policy

Posted on May 1, 2013 by iMFdirect

akerlofGuest post by George A. Akerlof
University of California, Berkeley
Senior Resident Scholar at the IMF, and co-host of the Conference on Rethinking Macro Policy II: First Steps and Early Lessons

(Versions in عربي, 中文, Français, 日本語, and Русский)

I learned a lot from the conference , and I’m very thankful to all the speakers.  Do I have an image of the whole thing?  I don’t know whether my image is going to help anybody at all, but my view is that it’s as if a cat has climbed a huge tree. It’s up there, and oh my God, we have this cat up there.  The cat, of course, is this huge crisis.

And everybody at the conference has been commenting about what we should do about this stupid cat and how do we get it down and what do we do.  What I find so wonderful about this conference is all the speakers have their own respective image of the cat, and nobody has the same opinion.  But then, occasionally, those opinions mesh.  That’s my image of what we have been accomplishing.

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Filed under: Advanced Economies, Economic Crisis, Economic research, Employment, Finance, Financial Crisis, G-20, IMF, International Monetary Fund, recession | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

Rethinking Macroeconomic Policy

Posted on April 29, 2013 by iMFdirect

blanchBy Olivier Blanchard

(Versions in عربي, 中文, Français, Русский, and Español)

The IMF has just hosted a second conference devoted to rethinking macroeconomic policy in the wake of the crisis. After two days of fascinating presentations and discussions, I am certain of one thing:  this is unlikely to be our last conference on the subject.

Rethinking and reforms are both taking place.  But we still do not know the final destination, be it for the redefinition of monetary policy, or the contours of financial regulation, or the role of macroprudential tools. We have a general sense of direction, but we are largely navigating by sight.

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Filed under: Advanced Economies, Asia, Debt Relief, Economic research, Europe, Finance, Financial Crisis, Financial regulation, Financial sector supervision, Fiscal policy, IMF, International Monetary Fund, Politics, Public debt | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments »

Emerging Asia: At Risk of the “Middle-Income Trap”?

Posted on April 29, 2013 by iMFdirect

ASinghBy Anoop Singh

(Versions in 中文 and 日本語)

Emerging economies in Asia have weathered the global financial crisis relatively unscathed and appear to be on track for continued strong growth this year and the next. Perhaps because the region has been doing rather well, policymakers’ concerns have increasingly shifted towards medium-term risks: could growth and fast convergence to living standards in advanced economies—come to an end?

In fact, while the economic performance of emerging economies in Asia remains undoubtedly strong in international comparison, it has already shown signs of gradual weakening.

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Filed under: Advanced Economies, Asia, Economic Crisis, Emerging Markets, Financial Crisis, growth, IMF, International Monetary Fund | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

How to Sustain Recent Financial Gains: Fix Old Risks and Meet New Challenges

Posted on April 17, 2013 by iMFdirect

GFSRBy José Viñals

(Versions in  عربي ,日本語, Español)

Policymakers’ decisive actions  since our last report in October have increased global financial stability by reducing acute risks.

  • In the euro area, policymakers averted a financial cliff.
  • In the United States, the worst fears of the fiscal cliff had been averted, while balance sheet repair and continued monetary easing have supported financial markets and the recovery.
  • In Japan, new policy initiatives have caught the imagination of global markets that Japan may finally leave its deflation valley.

But our latest Global Financial Stability Report concludes that improved financial markets and gains in financial stability will not be sustained—and new risks are likely to emerge—unless policymakers address key underlying vulnerabilities.

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Filed under: Economic Crisis, Europe, Finance, Financial Crisis, growth, International Monetary Fund | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

The Fiscal Milestone: Achievements, Fatigue, and Prospects

Posted on April 16, 2013 by iMFdirect

Fiscal Monitor

By Carlo Cottarelli

(Versions in عربي , 中文, 日本語, and Español)

The 2008–09 global economic crisis pushed public debt ratios of advanced economies to levels never seen before during peacetime. These high debt levels expose countries to a loss of market confidence and, ultimately, damage long-term growth prospects.  Since 2010 advanced economies have been on a journey: the goal is to bring their public finances back to safer territory. They are in it for the long haul, not a sprint, and, as a redress of the large fiscal imbalances created by the crisis, without derailing the still fragile economic recovery, it requires a steady and gradual pace of adjustment—at least for countries not subject to market pressures.

This year we see the process of gradual fiscal adjustment reaching two symbolic milestones. First, the average deficit of advanced economies as a share of GDP will fall to half of its 2009 level at the peak of the crisis. Second, the average debt ratio will stop rising, after increasing steadily since 2007. Indeed, it will actually decline slightly.

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Filed under: Advanced Economies, Economic Crisis, Europe, Financial Crisis, Fiscal policy, International Monetary Fund | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Subsidizing Energy Consumption: Why it’s Wrong and What Can Be Done About it

Posted on March 27, 2013 by iMFdirect

Carlo CottarelliBy Carlo Cottarelli

(Versions in Español, 中文, Français, 日本語, and Русский)

Let’s face it. Everybody loves cheap energy. Almost all human activities require energy consumption and, if something is so basic, it seems pretty obvious that it should not be denied to anyone and government should make it as cheap as possible to both households and companies, including through subsidies. This can help households avoid paying exorbitant energy bills at the end of the month, something that the poor may not be able to afford even for basic needs like heating and cooking.

Companies may also need energy subsidies to help them stay competitive. Energy subsidies appear even more appropriate, and even the obvious thing to do, in countries that have a large supply of energy, like oil producers. After all, this natural wealth in the form of energy belongs to the people; why shouldn’t it be cheap?

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Filed under: Africa, Economic research, Español, Finance, Financial Crisis, Fiscal policy, Français, growth, Inequality, International Monetary Fund, Low-income countries, Middle East, Politics, عربي | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

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