The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations,and an international financial institution,headquartered in Washington,D.C.,consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster global monetary cooperation,secure financial stability,facilitate international trade,promote high employment and sustainable economic growth,and reduce poverty around the world." Formed in 1944,started on 27 December 1945,at the Bretton Woods Conference primarily by the ideas of Harry Dexter White and John Maynard Keynes,it came into formal existence in 1945 with 29 member countries and the goal of reconstructing the international monetary system. It now plays a central role in the management of balance of payments difficulties and international financial crises. Countries contribute funds to a pool through a quota system from which countries experiencing balance of payments problems can borrow money. As of 2016,the fund had XDR 477 billion. The IMF is regarded as the global lender of last resort.
Rüdiger Dornbusch was a German economist who worked in the United States for most of his career.
John Harold Williamson was a British-born economist who coined the term Washington Consensus. He served as a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics from 1981 until his retirement in 2012. During that time,he was the project director for the United Nations High-Level Panel on Financing for Development in 2001. He was also on leave as chief economist for South Asia at the World Bank during 1996–99,adviser to the International Monetary Fund from 1972 to 1974,and an economic consultant to the UK Treasury from 1968 to 1970. He was also an economics professor at Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (1978–81),University of Warwick (1970–77),Massachusetts Institute of Technology,University of York (1963–68) and Princeton University (1962–63).
Stanley Fischer is an Israeli American economist who served as the 20th Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve from 2014 to 2017. Fisher previously served as the 8th governor of the Bank of Israel from 2005 to 2013. Born in Northern Rhodesia,he holds dual citizenship in Israel and the United States. He previously served as First Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund and Chief Economist of the World Bank. On January 10,2014,President Barack Obama nominated Fischer to be Vice-Chairman of the US Federal Reserve Board of Governors. He is a senior advisor at Blackrock. On September 6,2017,Stanley Fischer announced that he was resigning as Vice-Chairman for personal reasons effective October 13,2017,just before his 74th birthday.
The impossible trinity is a concept in international economics which states that it is impossible to have all three of the following at the same time:
The Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE),known until 2006 as the Institute for International Economics (IIE),is an American think tank based in Washington,D.C. It was founded by C. Fred Bergsten in 1981 and has been led by Adam S. Posen since 2013. The institute conducts research,provides policy recommendations,and publishes books and articles on a wide range of topics related to the US economy and international economics.
Olivier Jean Blanchard is a French economist and professor who is a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. He was the chief economist at the International Monetary Fund from September 1,2008,to September 8,2015. Blanchard was appointed to the position under the tenure of Dominique Strauss-Kahn;he was succeeded by Maurice Obstfeld. He is also a Robert M. Solow Professor of Economics emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). According to IDEAS/RePEc,he is one of the most cited economists in the world.
Raghuram Govind Rajan is an Indian economist and the Katherine Dusak Miller Distinguished Service Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Between 2003 and 2006 he was Chief Economist and director of research at the International Monetary Fund. From September 2013 through September 2016 he was the 23rd Governor of the Reserve Bank of India.
JoséDe Gregorio Rebeco is a Chilean economist,academic,researcher,consultant and politician. He has been the Governor of the Central Bank of Chile,Minister of the Economy,Mining and Energy during the administration of Ricardo Lagos and is currently the Dean of the School of Economics and Business of the Universidad de Chile. He is also a nonresident Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
Malcolm D. Knight is a Canadian economist,policymaker and banker. He is currently Visiting Professor of Finance at the London School of Economics and Political Science and a Distinguished Fellow at the Center for International Governance Innovation. From 2008 to 2012,Knight was Vice Chairman of Deutsche Bank Group where he was responsible for developing and coordinating the bank's global approach to issues in financial regulation,supervision,and financial stability. He served as general manager of the Bank for International Settlements from 2003 to 2008 and as Senior Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada (1999-2003),after holding senior positions at the International Monetary Fund (1975-1999).
Philip Richard Lane is an Irish economist who has been serving as a member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank since 2019 and concurrently as ECB chief economist. He previously served as Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland from 2015 to 2019. As ECB Chief Economist,Lane is seen by many as providing an academic counterweight to the traditional political abilities of ECB President,Christine Lagarde.
Anne Osborn Krueger is an American economist. She was the World Bank Chief Economist from 1982 to 1986,and the first deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from 2001 to 2006. She is currently the senior research professor of international economics at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington,D.C. She also is a senior fellow of Center for International Development and the Herald L. and Caroline Ritch Emeritus Professor of Sciences and Humanities' Economics Department at Stanford University.
Adam Simon Posen is an American economist and President of the Peterson Institute for International Economics. He became President of the Peterson Institute on January 1,2013,having first joined PIIE in July 1997.
The Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is also the economic counsellor and director of the fund's Research Department and is responsible for providing independent advice to the fund on its policy issues,integrating ideas of the research in the design of policies,conveying these ideas to the policymakers inside and outside the fund and managing all research done at IMF. The Chief Economist is a member of the Senior Leadership of the IMF.
Gita Gopinath is an Indian-American economist who has served as the first deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF),since 21 January 2022. She had previously served as chief economist of the IMF between 2019 and 2022.
Alan M. Taylor is the C. Bryan Cameron Chair in International Economics and Distinguished Professor of Economics and Finance at the University of California,Davis. He is also a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and a research fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research.
Atish Rex Ghosh is an international economist,who is currently the Historian of the International Monetary Fund. His recent work has focused on issues related to the stability of the international monetary system,including exchange rate regimes,external balance dynamics,capital flows and capital controls,monetary and foreign exchange intervention policies,fiscal space and debt sustainability,and international policy coordination. His work on the management of cross-border capital flows,notably the role of capital controls,has played an important role in influencing the IMF's institutional position on the use of capital controls. Ghosh has also published numerous influential studies on international policy coordination and exchange rate regimes,including three books:Economic Cooperation in an Uncertain World;Exchange Rate Regimes:Choices and Consequences;and Currency Boards in Retrospect and Prospect. In addition,he is the author of Nineteenth Street,NW—a fictional novel about a global financial crash.
Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas is a French economist who currently works as S.K. and Angela Chan Professor of Management at the University of California,Berkeley,where he also directs the Clausen Center for International Business and Policy and is affiliated with the Haas School of Business. His research focuses on macroeconomics,in particular international macroeconomics and international finance. In 2008,Gourinchas received the Prize of the Best Young Economist of France.
The Julis-Rabinowitz Center for Public Policy and Finance (JRC) is a leading research center at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) of Princeton University. Founded in 2011,the JRC primarily promotes research on public policy as it relates to financial markets and macroeconomics. The center has also expanded its research and teaching to multiple disciplines,including economics,operations research,political science,history,and ethics.
Huang Yiping (黄益平) is a professor of economics at the National School of Development at Peking University. He is a highly recognized expert of financial services in China.
