The Chastening: Inside the Crisis That Rocked the Global Financial System and Humbled the IMF [Hardcover]

Paul Blustein (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 9, 2001

The breathtaking behind-the-scenes story of the nearly disastrous global financial crisis of the late 1990s and how the International Monetary Fund tried-and failed-to stop it. At a time when the IMF has become the object of intense political controversy, The Chastening is the first book to provide a behind-the-scenes look at the Fund during an extraordinarily turbulent period in modern economic history. Based on interviews with more than 200 officials at the IMF, the World Bank, the U. S. Treasury, the Federal Reserve, the White House and many foreign governments, The Chastening recounts the struggle to stem the financial crisis that flared in Thailand in mid-1997 and spread to three continents. Its disquieting conclusion: at a time when massive flows of money traverse borders and oceans, the IMF is often woefully ill-equipped to safeguard the global economy or to combat virulent new strains of investor panics. The IMF and its overseers have cultivated the image of masterminds coolly dispensing effective economic remedies. But the reality, as Washington Post economics correspondent Paul Blustein shows, is that as markets were sinking and defaults looming, the guardians of global financial stability were often scrambling, floundering, improvising, feuding among themselves and striking messy compromises. The Chastening-important and fascinating reading for anyone interested in business, finance, and economics-will chasten readers out of any sense of complacency.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

An author who tries to write an engaging book about the International Monetary Fund faces a daunting task. Who besides devoted readers of The Financial Times would want to read it? With The Chastening, however, Paul Blustein offers a remarkably accessible account of this off-putting institution and its importance to the world economy. "The IMF cultivates its mystique, seeking to appear all-knowing, scientific, and detached. To outsiders, it often comes across as a high priesthood with pretensions of divine powers and insight," he writes. Blustein tears down this façade as he recounts some of the epic struggles of recent years: "As markets were sinking and defaults looming, the guardians of global financial stability were often scrambling, floundering, improvising, and striking messy compromises." Through dozens of interviews with IMF insiders, Blustein reveals how the institution really works--and how it often doesn't. There are fast-paced stories of success and failure on these pages, as Blustein describes efforts to bail out faltering economies in Korea, Russia, and elsewhere. Best of all, readers don't need economics degrees to keep pace: anybody who simply wants a primer on global financial systems will be well served by Blustein. --John Miller

From Library Journal

While not an economic treatise, this marvelous work by Washington Post staff writer Blustein provides an in-depth look at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and its 1997-99 crisis-fighting efforts in Thailand, Indonesia, South Korea, Russia, and Brazil. Using firsthand interviews, the author provides a brief history of the IMF, a critical look at the institutions and mechanisms involved in IMF programs, and an effective portrayal of their relationship with other key players in international finance, including the U.S. Treasury, the U.S. Federal Reserve, the G-7, and the World Bank. Noting that the IMF was created to help countries correct problems in their economic fundamentals, the author contends that, owing to globalization, liberalization of the international currency market, and the emergence of what the author describes as the "Electronic Herd" of nontraditional economic interests, institutions like the IMF must adapt to ever-increasing challenges and evolve to meet these challenges. To this end, Blustein offers a number of noteworthy ideas for solving existing problems and fixing the international financial architecture. Recommended for both academic and public libraries. Norm Hutcherson, California State Univ., Bakersfield
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: PublicAffairs; 1st edition (October 9, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1891620819
• ISBN-13: 978-1891620812
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.5 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,132,208 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent book, July 4, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Chastening: Inside the Crisis That Rocked the Global Financial System and Humbled the IMF (Hardcover)

As an economics professor, I'm always skeptical of books about economics written by journalists. Economics can be quite complicated, and far too often journalists without serious (graduate-level) training in economics show a remarkable lack of understanding of even basic economic issues. They pose as "experts" but they don't really know what they're talking about...

So I was very pleasantly surprised when I picked up this book. Blustein does a really impressive job of examining in detail the crisis of 1997-1998 and the role of the IMF. The economics is impeccable and he explains it clearly. And he's tremendously effective at bringing to life the "drama" of the crisis and the very difficult decisions that policy-makers face during a crisis like this one.

I also appreciated the fact that, while being quite critical of the IMF, Blustein is also balanced in his assessment, and careful about avoiding gratuitous "IMF bashing" and about making it clear that there are a lot of very smart people at the IMF who work very hard to do their job well.

This is a great book for anybody who wants to gain a greater understanding of the international financial system and of the role of the IMF. Lively, accurate, never boring, it's one of the best non-technical books about an economic event that I've ever read.

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars better than Woodward or Friedman, October 10, 2001

By 

m_noland "m_noland" (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Chastening: Inside the Crisis That Rocked the Global Financial System and Humbled the IMF (Hardcover)

This superb book should become the standard popular reference on the International Monetary Fund and the financial crises that swept the globe in 1997-98. Paul Blustein has a background in economics and first-hand experience in Asia where the crises originated. The book is well documented: Blustein conducted hundreds of interviews (unlike his Washington Post colleague Woodward, he actually names his sources) and is familiar with the academic literature on the subject. Indeed, this entertaining book does a marvelous job of explaining the substantive economic issues while at the same time conveying the very human disorder of crisis management as practiced during these episodes. It is less doctrinaire than Friedman's cheerleading for globalization in "The Lexus and the Olive Tree" and is far better informed on economic policy making than Woodward's "Maestro." (Simply compare Blustein's highly informative descriptions of the Korean and Long Term Capital Management crises with the complete hash of the same episodes that Woodward produced in "Maestro.") Highly recommended.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Economics Doesn't Get More Exciting Than This, October 23, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Chastening: Inside the Crisis That Rocked the Global Financial System and Humbled the IMF (Hardcover)

This is a highly readable account about a serious economic crisis that most Americans missed. But Blustein makes you care--and makes you understand why the so-called Committee to Save the World (Greenspan, Rubin and Summers) made some poor choices and only through sheer luck managed to escape with their reputations enhanced. Blustein's description of the International Monetary Fund is eye-opening, and he will make you think twice the next time you read a story buried in the business section about another IMF loan to a struggling country. Blustein knows his stuff and has done his homework. This is a rare book that teaches you something new--and makes you think.