New Book Features IMF's Role in Combating the Global Debt Crisis

The 1980s were a tumultuous period during which the IMF came of age as a participant in global financial markets. Silent Revolution: The International Monetary Fund, 1979-1989, written by James M. Boughton and published by the IMF in October 2001, is a history of the world economy-and of the IMF's role in it-during that period. The book provides indispensable background for anyone seeking to understand how the IMF later responded to the financial crises of the 1990s and how it might respond to the global economic effects of the war on terrorism in 2001 and beyond.

The new history describes the internal workings of the IMF during the 1980s-not just what decisions the IMF made but how and why it made them. In particular, it analyzes the international debt crisis of the 1980s and explains the way in which the IMF worked with indebted countries and their creditors to develop a strategy for resolving the crisis. It also describes how the IMF conducted surveillance over the macroeconomic and exchange rate policies of its member countries, how the World Economic Outlook exercise became a major tool for analyzing the effects of economic policies, and how the IMF supported the policy coordination efforts of the major industrial countries. The book examines IMF lending to developing countries and takes an in-depth look at how several countries fell into arrears to the IMF and the development of tactics to deal with this...