Failed: What the "Experts" Got Wrong about the Global EconomyWhy has the Eurozone ended up with an unemployment rate more than twice that of the United States more than six years after the collapse of Lehman Brothers? Why did the vast majority of low- and middle-income countries suffer a prolonged economic slowdown in the last two decades of the 20th century? What was the role of the International Monetary Fund in these economic failures? Why was Latin America able to achieve substantial poverty reduction in the 21st century after more than two decades without any progress? Failed analyzes these questions, explaining why these important economic developments of recent years have been widely misunderstood and in some cases almost completely ignored. First, in the Eurozone, Mark Weisbrot argues that the European authorities' political agenda, which included shrinking the welfare state, reducing health care, pension, and other social spending, and reducing the bargaining power of labor played a very important role in prolonging the Eurozone's financial crisis and pushing it into years of recession and mass unemployment. This conclusion is based not only on public statements of European officials, but also on thousands of pages of documentation from consultations between the IMF and European governments after 2008. The second central theme of Failed is that there are always practical alternatives to prolonged economic failure. Drawing on the history of other financial crises, recessions, and recoveries, Weisbrot argues that regardless of initial conditions, there have been and remain economically feasible choices for governments of the Eurozone to greatly reduce unemployment-including the hardest hit, crisis-ridden country of Greece. The long-term economic failure of developing countries, its social consequences, as well as the subsequent recovery in the first decade of the 21st century, constitute the third part of the book's narrative, one that has previously gotten too little attention. We see why the International Monetary Fund has lost influence in middle income countries. Failed also examines the economic causes and consequences of Latin America's "second independence" and rebound in the twenty-first century, as well as the challenges that lie ahead. |
Contents
| 1 | |
When the Cures Worsen
the Disease | 20 |
The Aftermath
of Financial Crises | 56 |
The LongTerm
Economic Growth Failure | 83 |
4 The Misunderstood Role of the International
Monetary Fund | 125 |
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Accessed December Accessed February April Argentina Asian billion Bolivia bonds borrowing Brazil bubble budget capita GDP capital Center for Economic Central Bank Chávez China collapse country’s coup creditors crises currency Database debt decade default deficit devaluation developing countries dollars Economic and Policy economic growth economic policy economists Ecuador elected euro Europe European authorities eurozone Evo Morales exchange rate exports February 12 financial crisis financial markets fiscal policy fixed exchange rate foreign Fund’s GDP growth global government’s Greece high-income Honduras IMF’s important income increase India’s inflation Institute interest rates International Monetary Fund investment July Latin America macroeconomic macroeconomic policies major Mark Weisbrot middle-income countries National neoliberal November October percent of GDP Policy Research political poverty President Press problem Quintile Rebecca Ray recovery reforms Retrieved December Retrieved February role sector September social Spain trade twenty-first century unemployment United Venezuela Washington World Bank World Economic Outlook