Crisis Creates Uncertain Future for Global Youth

Coming of age in the Great Recession, the world’s youth face an uncertain future, with lengthening job lines, diminished opportunities, and bleaker prospects that are taking a heavy emotional toll.

The March issue of the IMF’s quarterly magazine Finance & Development (F&D) looks at the need to urgently address the challenges facing youth and create opportunities for them.

Harvard professor David Bloom lays out the scope of the problem and emphasizes the importance of listening to young people. Other articles look at the need to improve education and skill levels, the effect of the crisis on youth in advanced economies, and the role of the IMF. We also speak to six young people around the world about their hopes and aspirations and how the crisis has affected them.

IMF Deputy Managing Director Nemat Shafik writes that young people were innocent bystanders in the global financial crisis, but they may well end up paying the heaviest price for policy mistakes. If the right policies are not put into place, there is a risk not only of a lost decade in terms of growth but also of a lost generation, Shafik says.

The magazine also profiles Fred Bergsten, examines the rise of the Chinese currency, looks at the role of the credit rating agencies, discusses how to boost the empowerment of women, and presents a primer on macroprudential regulation, seen as increasingly important to financial stability.

F&D’s home page now has a new feature: all of the popular Back to Basics columns have been collected onto a single page that serves as a one-stop economics learning shop.

Contents of the March issue

Youth in the Balance

David E. Bloom

Frustrated and angry, the world’s young people are demanding change.

Making the Grade

Emmanuel Jimenez, Elizabeth M. King, and Jee-Peng Tan

Revamping what and how young people learn is the best way to help them and their home countries succeed.

Scarred Generation

Hanan Morsy

In advanced economies, the crisis sparked a huge increase in unemployment among younger workers that will take a long time to abate.

Straight Talk: Stolen Dreams

Nemat Shafik

Our ability to set the world economy straight will decide the fate of today’s young people.

Voices of Youth

Hisham Allam, Daria Sito-Sucic, Barbara Fraser, Jacqueline Deslauriers, Julian Ryall, Wale Fatade, and Tolu Ogunlesi

Around the world, young people speak out.

Other...