Abstract
The first sentence of Mussa, Swoboda, Zettelmeyer, and Jeanne’s paper reads, “The emerging market crises of the 1990s—in particular, the shock of the Asian crisis and its global repercussions—have generated a perception of deep inadequacies in the international financial system and an intense debate on global financial reform, particularly regarding capital flows to emerging markets.” Having spent 18 months observing market behavior from inside the belly of the beast, I would have written instead, “The emerging market crises of the 1990’s … have generated a perception of deep inadequacies of national financial policies in key crisis countries, and the global crisis has laid bare the failure of the IMF—the only institution with a global surveillance mandate—to recognize these policy failures early and to prevent or mitigate their global impact by inducing the relevant countries to implement effective and timely remedial policies.”