The International Monetary Fund took aim at Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, calling the economist's criticism of the fund's advice to governments ``snake oil'' that "runs against the wisdom of Planet Earth.''
In a rare personal rebuke by the fund against one of its critics, IMF Chief Economist Kenneth Rogoff and main spokesman Thomas Dawson each published rebuttals of a new book by Stiglitz, Globalization and its Discontents. While Rogoff praised Stiglitz as an academic, he labeled the former World Bank chief economist "a loose cannon" for suggesting that IMF policy advice to countries such as Thailand and South Korea deepened their recessions in 1997 and 1998.
"In the middle of a global wave of speculative attacks, that you yourself labeled a crisis of confidence, you fueled the panic by undermining confidence in the very institutions you were working for," Rogoff told Stiglitz in a debate Friday at the World Bank. "Did it ever occur to you for a moment that your actions might have hurt the poor and indigent people in Asia?" The row comes as the collapse of Argentina's economy after a decade of advice from the fund has given anti-IMF candidates new support across Latin America, from Brazil to Bolivia.
Many of them share Stiglitz's contention that the IMF's typical advice to governments of developing nations to cut budgets, raise interest rates and open capital markets often leaves countries unable to expand their economies and exposed to the whims of foreign investors.
The fight is also a rare public glimpse at the differences between the two lenders, whose headquarters are across the street from one another in Washington.
The attack by Rogoff drew the ire of World Bank economist Uri Dadush, who complained during Friday's debate of the personal nature of the comments.
Dawson said today that Stiglitz, once an economic adviser to President Bill Clinton, began the personal attacks, and he had an assistant count the references to the IMF in the book's index -- 340 -- to prove his point.
While Stiglitz focuses his criticisms on the economic policy advice of the IMF to Russia, Thailand, South Korea and Argentina in the 1990s, he has gotten personal, too. He once said the IMF attracts "third-rank students from first-rate universities." He argues that opening up to capital helped fuel the near collapse of economies from Mexico to Southeast Asia to Russia and Brazil in the last decade. The IMF's advice of budget cutting and raising rates only exacerbated the problem, he says.
"There is a great hypocrisy and inequity about the way globalization has been carried out," Stiglitz said at the World Bank.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
RSS