Macroeconomic Policy

Kemal Dervis, head of the UN Development Program, and also a commissioner on the Commission for Growth and Development discussed the need for fairness in the availability of credit for emerging markets. In an op-ed in the Washington Post on Monday, November 3rd, Commissioner Dervis highlighted the dramatic effects the current deleveraging process will have on developing economies. He also points out that if the IMF and reserve-rich countries start implementing a selective lending facility, this will likely create new political tensions that will push vulnerable countries into crisis even faster.  

On October 10, 2008, Michael Spence, Mohamed El-Erian and Mahmoud Mohieldin discussed the current global imbalances, macro economic global governance, and the impact it will have on the developing world.  Please access the video of the discussion here.

In an opinion piece featured in the Financial Times' The Economists' Forum on October 27th, Michael Spence offers suggestions on how to avoid the deepening of an asset deflation overshoot which has already begun, and will likely get worse if not attended to by leaders in both industrial and developing economies. Key highlights include coordinated actions by the government and private sector to recapitalize banks, direct intervention in housing markets, IMF coordination of reserve surplus countries,  and private corporation stock buy-back programs. Please access the article here.