The Chastening by Paul Blustein

The Chastening by Paul Blustein

The breathtaking behind-the-scenes story of the nearly disastrous global financial crisis of the late 1990s and how the International Monetary Fund tried-and failed-to stop it. At a time when the IMF has become the object of intense political controversy, The Chastening is the first book to provide a behind-the-scenes look at the Fund during an extraordinarily turbulent period in modern economic history. Based on interviews with more than 200 officials at the IMF, the World Bank, the U. S. Treasury, the Federal Reserve, the White House and many foreign governments, The Chastening recounts the struggle to stem the financial crisis that flared in Thailand in mid-1997 and spread to three continents. Its disquieting conclusion: at a time when massive flows of money traverse borders and oceans, the IMF is often woefully ill-equipped to safeguard the global economy or to combat virulent new strains of investor panics. The IMF and its overseers have cultivated the image of masterminds coolly dispensing effective economic remedies. But the reality, as Washington Post economics correspondent Paul Blustein shows, is that as markets were sinking and defaults looming, the guardians of global financial stability were often scrambling, floundering, improvising, feuding among themselves and striking messy compromises. The Chastening-important and fascinating reading for anyone interested in business, finance, and economics-will chasten readers out of any sense of complacency.

Paul Blustein is Journalist in Residence at the Global Economy and Development Program at the Brookings Institution. For twenty years he was a staff writer at the Washington Post, where he covered business and economic issues. His work has won several prizes, including business journalism's most prestigious, the Gerald Loeb Award. Blustein lives in Bethesda, MD.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781891620812
ISBN 10	1891620819
Title	The Chastening
Author	Paul Blustein
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Publicaffairs
Year published	2001-10-10
Number of pages	448
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable