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Begin New Search Political Geography Argentina Author Carol Graham

1. The IMF's Dilemma in Argentina: Time for a New Approach to Lending?

Author:
Carol Graham and Paul Robert Masson
Publication Date:
11-2002
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Brookings Institution
Abstract:
In recent years, the international financial system has faced tremendous challenges, from the Asia, Russia, and Brazil crises in the late 1990s, to Argentina's default and ensuing economic collapse in 2002 to new worries about a possible default in Brazil. An increasing number of observers are questioning the way the international financial institutions manage these crises. An alternative approach that is endorsed in principle by many—including Horst Köhler, the new managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)—is a move toward more selective lending with fewer conditions, with the decision to lend based on a more general and ultimately political assessment of the recipient government's capacity to deliver on its promises. Argentina provides a potential test bed for this approach.
Topic:
International Organization and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
Russia, Asia, Brazil, Argentina, South America, and Latin America

2. Strengthening Institutional Capacity in Poor Countries: Shoring Up Institutions, Reducing Global Poverty

Author:
Carol Graham
Publication Date:
04-2002
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Brookings Institution
Abstract:
In a speech preceding the recent Financing for Development Conference in Monterrey, Mexico, former International Monetary Fund (IMF) Director Michel Camdessus noted that if the summit could only deliver one thing, it should be extending assistance to enhance institutional capacity in poor countries. Addressing this problem is key to achieving the Millennium Goals—established at the September 2000 UN Millennium summit—of reducing world poverty by half by 2015. Countless development efforts have failed because countries lack institutions with the ability to sustain their economic policies. The crisis in Argentina—triggered in large part by the country's reliance on an inflexible currency regime and by its inability to rein in fiscal flagrancy by local governments—is a case in point. Meanwhile, numerous discussions at Monterrey highlighted weak institutional capacity as a major obstacle to economic development.
Topic:
Human Welfare, International Organization, and Poverty
Political Geography:
Argentina and Mexico