The Indonesian economic crises that emerged out of the greater Asian Financial Crises of 1997 is often presented as an example of an International Monetary Fund (IMF) project that created problems for the receiving nation. As the video Globalization at a Crossroads stated in its final words, “It supported the case that economic globalization actually increased economic instability.” Indeed, there were immediate, and in some cases, irreversible consequences of the IMF’s intervention into Indonesia’s economy. Examples of negative consequences included riots, massive inflation and contraction in the economy (Shari, 1998). However, through the lens of the current Indonesian economy, almost 20 years later, IMF intervention may have eventually worked as intended, as the country has demonstrated economic stability and growth through several more contemporary economic crises.
In the beginning of the IMF’s intervention in Indonesia, it seemed as though the IMF could do nothing right. On multiple occasions, Suharto, Indonesia’s dictator, had upstaged and embarrassed the IMF and IMF officials. The embarrassment hit a high note on May 14th, 1998 when riots and fires ran the remaining IMF delegation out of the country, but not before they were shaken down by immigration officials in exchange for food and water (Shari, 1998).
As Michael Shari reported in Business Week in 1998, the IMF’s faith in Suharto as a trustworthy and capable leader was severely flawed. At first, “Suharto…won
The Pain and the Promise by Glenda Alice Rabby gives an account of the long, hard struggles blacks had to endure to achieve equality among whites in Tallahassee and throughout Florida. A lot of people had the misconception that Florida wasn’t like its neighboring Southern states. Rabby proves throughout the book that those were just mere misconceptions and in fact, Florida was equally resistant to change as other states below the Mason Dixon line. Tallahassee, being the state’s capitol, was going to be the city that set the framework for the entire state during the modern civil rights movement if
The IMF did provide relief but at the expense of the food subsidies which the Thai rely on to compete for food prices. If the economy of Thailand were left alone, given their own economic sovereignty rather than launching them in the vicious global market while being compared and linked to the titanic financial power of the dollar, their quaint agricultural and textile industry could have thrived and met the requirements to maintain their nation. The deeply rooted free market ideals of globalization forced the Thai baht to be overvalued. The wolf pack like instincts (bred by the greed and profit seeking nature of global capitalism) of the foreign investors let the baht to be over sold and the price of the currency to be driven down into obscurity. The global market capital perspective provides an insightful perspective as to why the Thai currency crash was so impactful to not just Bangkok, or Asia but the entire globe. The interconnectedness of the international economy provides a community for nations but due to the infinite connections that exist in this paradigm, the problems of one place can be caused by anybody and leave widespread consequences in every modicum of the
The IMF and World Bank providing loans to impoverished and financially unstable countries is not only irresponsible, it's unethical. I intend to use the example of the loans provided to Mexico during the Mexican peso crisis, also called the Tequila crisis or December mistake crisis to illustrate this, and then provide what I believe would be a better solution
Today in society, not being able to pray in school, having God in the pledge of allegiance, and having rules about religious expressions are causing big controversial issues in public schools. As Americans, expressing religious beliefs freely is a given. The right to freedom of religion was guaranteed to U.S. citizens since 1791. Although in some cases, not having religion in schools are reasonable, but ultimately it is wrong and immoral. By not allowing religion to be freely declared in public schools, discrimination, bullying, and ignorance will come about. Students should not be in an environment where teachers are against them. Public schools and Americans need to help make a difference.
Throughout, there is a keen sense that the IMF is completely guided by ideology which is focused on the free market and the markets’ ability to guide the economy properly at all times. It would seem that all those who work at the IMF are misguided and/or towing the party line in the form of the Washington Consensus. Moreover, of greater concern is perhaps that throughout this piece, it would seem that the World Bank could do no wrong. Stiglitz portrays himself and the World Bank as the white knight(s) who were championing the rights of those who could not fight for themselves against the US government, the US Treasury and even the Federal Reserve. He does so with little regard to any policies or actions that these organizations have done for positive reasons or with positive results. He displays unwavering support for governments to stimulate aggregate demand via social spending, so it is surprising that he is so punitive towards Western governments.
I want to write about this topic although I am aware that the IMF is said not to be directly related to Plan Colombia. This information does not seem accurate and of course you can find different points of view on this “fact”. I believe the IMF is most definitely related to Plan Colombia which has had a negative effect on the poor by cutting back on public services. This topic is particularly interesting to me because I am Colombian-American and this puts me in a difficult situation between my two countries.
After over a quarter century of sustained economic growth, Indonesia was struck by a major economic crisis at the end of the 20th Century. This paper examines the impact of the crisis on economic and social change within the region. (Cameron 1999) The crisis, which worked its way through many of
Unfortunately, our subsequent policies only undermined the stability in Egypt and our influence in this area. We have used the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loans to persuade both the SCAF and President Morsi to accelerate their political and economic reform. However, this project was not accepted by the Egyptian leaders who were reluctant to initiate political reforms that may undermine their domestic support and increase their national debt. The delay of IMF aid weakened the Egyptians’ power to stabilize its rickety economy and pacify its poor civilians. Consequently, the Egyptian leaders sought alternative sources of funding from Libya and the Gulf States, which decreased our voice in the politics of Egypt.
In 2004, Indonesia overall score dramatically decreased. It was mainly due to a decrease of its monetary and investment freedom indicators (see Exhibit 4 and 5 relatively). Whereas its rapidly increase from 2005, it was mainly due to an increase of its trade (see Exhibit 6) and again monetary freedom indicators.
Unlike a liberalist perspective who believe such international institutions can make a difference, realists adopts a “self-help system” in this dangerous world, consequently developing a psychological state of fear and mistrust. They strongly oppose to the effect of international institutions facilitating foreign aid and development, and raise a thought-provoking question: are these institutions really willing to help these economically low developing needs or are they just doing things strategically to meet powerful countries’ needs? After all, the rules of institutions like the United Nations, World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) are all written by leading countries. They may project their aims to foster monetary cooperation and secure financial stability, but with the power they have to make decisions on what to do with these developing countries, the motive to influence the decisions in a way to benefit their domestic economy is very high. According to Hans J. Morgenthau, “international politics, like all politics, is a struggle for power. Whatever the ultimate aims of international politics, power is the immediate aim”. With realists’ high priority of power and focus on relative gains, regardless of foreign aid given through an international institution or given directly by the donor government, the possibility of providing foreign aid with solely the intention to meet their self
Global governance institutions, from the International Monetary Fund to the World Trade Organization, are little loved. They are often perceived as bastions of sclerotic mediocrity at best and outright corruption at worst. In the wake of the 2008 financial crash, Daniel W. Drezner, like so many others, observed the smoking ruins of the global economy and wondered the extent to which global governance institutions have affected the post-recession, international system.
For about twenty years, East-Asian countries were held up as economic idols. They were hailed as the ideal models for strong economic growth of developing countries because of their high savings and investment rates, autocratic political systems, export-oriented business, restricted domestic markets, government capital allocation, and controlled financial systems.
In the late 1990’s, Malawi was facing financial hardships due in part to an AIDS epidemic. Gauding. The country reached out to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for help. The IMF imposes strict rules that countries looking to obtain financial aid must adhere to, in many cases causing the country in need severe social problems, including in the case of Malawi when they asked for aid to help mitigate the unfortunate circumstances that had left many in the country in severe poverty, a poverty that had developed to the level that the poverty itself was causing death and health problems in the form of starvation and lack of basic medical solutions. The IMF stipulates that the countries it offers aid to must stop giving subsidies to its citizens. Gauding. In the case of Malawi, the local government was giving subsidies to farmers for nitrogen fertilizers, which allows food to be grown to feed the nations people. Once the IMF demanded a stop to these subsidies, the rate of starvation sky rocketed.
An international blame game has emerged between the government of Malawi and the IMF. Malawi’s President, Bakili Muluzi, declared: “The IMF is to blame
I successfully published a paper on “Labor Market Flexibility and the Impact of the Financial Crisis” in Kyklos, a high-quality journal in political economics. In addition, my paper on “Legal and Actual Central Bank Independence: A case study of Bank of Indonesia” was published in the SOM Research Report. Following these publications, another paper that I wrote entitled, “Financial Crises and the Dismissal of Central Bank Governors: New Evidence” was also published in the International Journal of Finance and Economics. In order to the increase the impact of my paper to the academics and policy makers, I presented my paper on financial crisis and central bank independence at the Forum Kebijakan Pembangunan (FKP) held by the ANU Indonesia Project. I was also invited by the Asian Economic Panel (AEP) Conference to present my paper on Bank Indonesia’s legal and actual