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82. Role of the IMF in the Global Financial Crisis
- Author:
- Miranda Xafa
- Publication Date:
- 09-2010
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- The Cato Journal
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- More than two years on, the impact of the financial crisis that erupted in August 2007 is still being felt as the global economy emerges from the Great Recession. The crisis intensified dramatically after the bankruptcy of Lehman and the rescue of insurance giant AIG in September 2008, which narrowly avoided a near-simultaneous failure of multiple counterparties. The International Monetary Fund's early forecast of the severity of the resulting economic downturn (IMF 2008a) helped mobilize concerted official action to address quickly and forcefully these extraordinary economic and financial events by providing fiscal stimulus to sustain growth, as well as capital injections and guarantees to ease the credit crunch. Following the emergency summit of G20 leaders in Washington in November 2008, support packages for banks were put together in a hurry in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere to prevent the dis- orderly failure of systemically important institutions and to restore confidence in the financial system.
- Topic:
- Financial Crisis
- Political Geography:
- United States and Middle East
83. Crisis Prevention through Global Surveillance: A Task beyond the IMF
- Author:
- Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar
- Publication Date:
- 09-2010
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- The Cato Journal
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- In early 2008, the future of the International Monetary Fund was in doubt. The world was awash with dollars since the United States ran an enormous current account deficit, the mirror image of which was trade surpluses in most other countries. Hence, few countries had balance of payments problems, and the IMF had few borrowers. IMF income was insufficient to meet its costs, and so it retrenched hundreds of economists, and both its relevance and legitimacy were questioned. But that episode now looks like a temporary historical blip. After the collapse of Lehman Brothers—and the global financial system—in September 2008, the IMF was suddenly in more demand by governments than ever before to help finance stricken countries across continents. The G20 agreed to triple IMF resources to $750 billion, the four BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) agreed to subscribe to the IMF's first bond issue of $80 billion, and India has bought 200 tons of IMF gold. So an IMF role seems assured in future crises.
- Topic:
- International Monetary Fund
- Political Geography:
- United States and Tamil Nadu
84. Effects of the Financial Crisis on The U.S.-China Economic Relationship
- Author:
- Eswar S. Prasad
- Publication Date:
- 08-2009
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- The Cato Journal
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- The U.S. and China are two of the dominant economies in the world today and the nature of their relationship has far-reaching implications for the smooth functioning of the global trade and financial systems. These two economies are becoming increasingly integrated with each other through the flows of goods, financial capital, and people. These rising linkages of course now stretch far beyond just trade and finance, to a variety of geopolitical and global security issues. Getting this relationship right is therefore of considerable importance.
- Topic:
- Financial Crisis
- Political Geography:
- United States and China
85. The Effects of Corruption on FDI Inflows
- Author:
- Ali Al-Sadig
- Publication Date:
- 08-2009
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- The Cato Journal
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- The surge in foreign direct investment (FDI) flows during the 1990s has motivated a host of recent studies into their determinants. Recently, the level of corruption in the host country has been introduced as one factor among the determinants of FDI location. From a theoretical viewpoint, corruption—that is, paying bribes to corrupt government bureaucrats to get “favors” such as permits, investment licenses, tax assessments, and police protection—is generally viewed as an additional cost of doing business or a tax on profits. As a result, corruption can be expected to decrease the expected profitability of investment projects. Investors will therefore take the level of corruption in a host country into account in making decisions to invest abroad.
- Topic:
- Corruption
- Political Geography:
- United States
86. U.S. Energy Policy and the Presumption of Market Failure
- Author:
- Peter Z. Grossman
- Publication Date:
- 08-2009
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- The Cato Journal
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- Over the last 35 years, the U.S. government has embarked on several major projects to spur the commercial development of energy technologies intended to substitute for conventional energy resources, especially fossil fuels. Those efforts began with the 1973 energy crisis when President Nixon became the first U.S. leader to announce a plan for energy autarky. Presidents Ford and Carter followed Nixon's “Project Independence” with similar pledges. But beginning with Ford's 1975 energy act, plans for energy independence were tied directly to the development of new, alternative energy technologies. Under President Carter in particular, the federal government embarked on highly publicized, heavily funded efforts at developing new technologies with specific timetables for commercial entry and, in a few cases, a timetable for mass market substitution. Current mandates for ethanol and other biofuels fit this latter objective.
- Topic:
- Government
- Political Geography:
- United States
87. The Effects of Corruption on FDI Inflows
- Author:
- Ali Al-Sadig
- Publication Date:
- 10-2009
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- The Cato Journal
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- The surge in foreign direct investment (FDI) flows during the 1990s has motivated a host of recent studies into their determinants. Recently, the level of corruption in the host country has been introduced as one factor among the determinants of FDI location. From a theoretical viewpoint, corruption—that is, paying bribes to corrupt government bureaucrats to get “favors” such as permits, investment licenses, tax assessments, and police protection—is generally viewed as an additional cost of doing business or a tax on profits. As a result, corruption can be expected to decrease the expected profitability of investment projects. Investors will therefore take the level of corruption in a host country into account in making decisions to invest abroad.
- Topic:
- Economics
- Political Geography:
- United States
88. U.S. Energy Policy and the Presumption of Market Failure
- Author:
- Peter Z. Grossman
- Publication Date:
- 10-2009
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- The Cato Journal
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- Over the last 35 years, the U.S. government has embarked on several major projects to spur the commercial development of energy technologies intended to substitute for conventional energy resources, especially fossil fuels. Those efforts began with the 1973 energy crisis when President Nixon became the first U.S. leader to announce a plan for energy autarky. Presidents Ford and Carter followed Nixon's “Project Independence” with similar pledges. But beginning with Ford's 1975 energy act, plans for energy independence were tied directly to the development of new, alternative energy technologies. Under President Carter in particular, the federal government embarked on highly publicized, heavily funded efforts at developing new technologies with specific timetables for commercial entry and, in a few cases, a timetable for mass market substitution. Current mandates for ethanol and other biofuels fit this latter objective.
- Topic:
- Government
- Political Geography:
- United States
89. The Potential for System-Friendly K– 12 Reform
- Author:
- John Merrifield
- Publication Date:
- 10-2009
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- The Cato Journal
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- Numerous empirical models connect individual student test scores or average test scores to theoretically plausible policy and socioeconomic variables. Although the models were created to test for the effect of a specific factor like funding levels or teacher training on student performance, the fully specified models also have important implications for the ability of the current K–12 school system to significantly improve its performance. This article examines various student performance models and the potential for system- friendly K–12 reform.
- Political Geography:
- United States
90. Mandatory Health Insurance: Lessons from Massachusetts
- Author:
- Craig J. Richardson
- Publication Date:
- 10-2009
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- The Cato Journal
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- What lessons can be learned from the implementation of mandatory health insurance? As the Obama administration contemplates enacting far-reaching health care reforms that increase the role of government, the case of Massachusetts is worth serious study. Massachusetts' three-year experiment with mandatory health insurance (known as Chapter 58 legislation) has been judged by some health economists to be a qualified success, since it reached a primary goal of lowering the number of uninsured in the state (Gruber 2009, Long and Masi 2008). On the other hand, Tanner (2008: 5) argues that previously uninsured citizens signed up for health insurance because it was free or heavily subsidized, not because of the mandate itself. Official state statistics claim the number of uninsured in the state dropped from 11 percent in 2005 to less than 3 percent in 2009 (Massachusetts Health Connector 2009). Tanner (2009) disputes this number and suggests the number is closer to 5 percent, using Urban Institute and Census surveys as evidence. What supporters and foes of mandatory health insurance both seem to agree on is that the number of uninsured has fallen in the state since Chapter 58, and yet there remain between 150,000 and 200,000 uninsured citizens.
- Topic:
- Health
- Political Geography:
- United States