Here’s something worth reading–it’s an article by my friend and colleague Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research about the long-term impact of the East Asian financial crisis. It’s called "Ten Years After: The Lasting Impact of the Asian Financial Crisis." Here’s a little from CEPR’s press release on the article:

"Partly as a result of their experience with the crisis, middle-income Asian countries sought to remove themselves from the IMF’s influence by accumulating large reserve holdings," said Weisbrot, who is Co-Director of CEPR. "The IMF’s authority and credibility was further undermined in the Argentine crisis of 1998-2003, and in recent years the availability of alternative sources of credit, especially in Latin America, has led to the collapse of the IMF’s influence in that region and among middle-income countries generally."

The author argues that this is the most important change in the international financial system since the breakdown of the Bretton Woods system in 1973. He also concludes that for the foreseeable future, any positive financial reforms will be made at the national and regional level – for example, with the extension of such arrangements as the Chiang Mai Initiative of bilateral debt-swaps. This is because the high-income countries are not significantly closer to supporting reforms at the level of the international financial system or institutions than they were a decade ago. It will also be important for low-income countries, where the IMF still retains its role as "gatekeeper" for official credit, to become independent from the Fund so they can pursue more effective macroeconomic and development policies and address urgent humanitarian needs.

    Give it a read.