Philippe Legrain

It is outrageous that governments bailed out failed banks. There were better alternatives. But given that mistake, it is understandable that governments – and taxpayers – want to get their money back. The IMF has therefore proposed that G20 countries levy a tax on banks’ balance sheets, to pay for future bailouts or the recent […]

Prospect, September 2006. Disappointment at Doha, but it wasn’t all America’s fault. Is BP having too much bad luck? And Wolfowitz demands that the World Bank stops corruption

As I explained in a recent post, the notion that the IMF can act as a global economic policeman is pure fantasy. But that won’t stop the Fund from trying. It is sending crack teams to the US, the eurozone, Japan, China and Saudi Arabia to examine how their economies contribute to the worrying global […]

If you believe the hype in today’s Guardian and FT, leading governments achieved "a breakthrough in the governance of the global economy" over the weekend, transforming the International Monetary Fund into a "world economic watchdog". Larry Elliott’s ebullience can be explained by his closeness to the UK Chancellor, Gordon Brown, who happens to chair the […]

The IMF and the World Bank are lending institutions; they cannot be run by their borrowers. But they can listen more to poor countries.