In recent decades economists have been calling for more coordination of the countries’ macroeconomic policies. Some institutions, and especially the IMF, are formally charged with, or are expected to facilitate and promote, this coordination and some issues are analyzed and discussed within the IMF. At particular times countries have been asked to coordinate their fiscal policies, to help pull the world’s economies out of recessions. In the past couple years the G20 has played an increasingly active role in making these calls. At other times the countries have been asked to coordinate other policies. In all cases the objective has been to improve macroeconomic policies, at the global level, and to prevent, or reduce, potential, negative, cross-countries’ spillovers. These spillovers… Read more
Bruegel blog
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The G20 and the coordination of economic policies
5th November 2010
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The G20 and the coordination of economic policies
5th November 2010
In recent decades economists have been calling for more coordination of the countries’ macroeconomic policies. Some institutions, and especially the IMF, are formally charged with, or are expected to facilitate and promote, this coordination and some issues are analyzed and discussed within the IMF. At particular times countries have been asked to coordinate their fiscal policies, to help pull the world’s economies out of recessions. In the past couple years the G20 has played an increasingly active role in making these calls. At other times the countries have been asked to coordinate other policies. In all cases the objective has been to improve macroeconomic policies, at the global level, and to prevent, or reduce, potential, negative, cross-countries’ spillovers. These spillovers… Read more
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A Modest Proposal for the G20
21st June 2010
Soon the G20 group will meet again to continue its discussion of changes in the rules governing the international economy and the global, financial system. A danger is that, as time passes and as the world moves further away from the deepest point of the recent financial crisis, inertia will set in, lobbies will reacquire their past influence on legislators and other policymakers, and national interests will again prevail over global interests. These developments will inevitably affect the countries’ willingness to establish clear and widely shared rules to guide future financial operations and operators.Many issues continue to characterize the ongoing debate. Among these, the following are significant ones:(a) Should the focus be on micro, institution‐specific risks or on macro‐prudential risks?… Read more
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Comments on Recent Fiscal Developments and on Exit Strategies
23rd April 2010
aper delivered at the “Vancouver Seminar: The Crisis Response and Road to Recovery”, hosted by the Department of Finance and the Bank of Canada, November 30-December 1, 2009, Vancouver, CanadaGeneral BackgroundIn a note published a few years ago, in the Financial Times, (August 12, 2003), the author of this comment advanced the hypothesis that the world might be moving towards a future fiscal crisis. The reasons for such a prediction were three:First, significant structural fiscal deficits and high public debts characterized many countries (including six of the G-7 countries) at that time. Among the G-7 countries, the exception was Canada.Second, widely anticipated demographic developments that, under current policies would become significantly unfriendly to the countries’ public finances by around 2010.… Read more