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Paul Blustein

The Chastening: Inside The Crisis That Rocked The Global Financial System And Humbled The Imf Paperback – May 8, 2003

by Paul Blustein (Author)

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Lauded by reviewers and scholars alike, Paul Blustein's The Chastening examines the role of the International Monetary Fund in the series of economic crises that rocked the globe in the last decade. Based on hundreds of interviews with officials at the IMF, the World Bank, the U.S. Treasury, the Federal Reserve, the White House, and many foreign governments, The Chastening offers a behind-the-scenes look at the Fund during an extraordinarily turbulent period in modern economic history and at a time when the IMF has become the object of intense political controversy.

While the IMF and its overseers at the Treasury and the Fed have sought to cultivate an image of economic masterminds coolly dispensing effective economic remedies, the reality is that as markets were sinking and defaults looming, the guardians of global financial stability were often floundering, improvising, and feuding among themselves. The Chastening casts serious doubt on the IMF's ability to combat of investor panics at a time when massive flows of money traverse borders and oceans.

A readable, compelling account of the deeply flawed workings of the international political system, The Chastening is vital reading for students and scholars of international diplomacy, government, and economic and public policy.

Print length

448 pages
Language

English
Publication date

May 8, 2003
Dimensions

5.5 x 1.14 x 8.5 inches
ISBN-10

1586481819
ISBN-13

978-1586481810
Lexile measure

1460L
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Wall Street Journal, April 18, 2002
“Gets way behind the headlines to bring us a clear and lively story, crammed with anecdotes and background...a superbly reported and skillfully woven story documenting an incredible number of costly and dangerous IMF mistakes.”

The Economist, May 4, 2002
"Gripping, often frightening...should be read by anyone wanting to understand, from the inside, how the international financial system really works."

Financial Times, December 2, 2001
“Paul Blustein has achieved the improbable: he has written a riveting thriller about the International Monetary Fund.”

New York Times Book Review, February 17, 2002
“…Blustein tells the story [of the Asian financial crisis] with admirable aplomb…[He] demonstrates with an overwhelming wealth of anecdotal detail …The book is thoroughly sensible.”

New York Review of Books
“A fascinating story that is a model of investigative journalism.”

Alan Cowell, New York Times Sunday Business Section, October 14, 2001
“Mr. Blustein follows this crisis from Asia to Latin America with a storyteller’s eye for dialogue and details.”

About the Author

Paul Blustein is Journalist in Residence at the Global Economy and Development Program at the Brookings Institution. For twenty years he was a staff writer at the Washington Post, where he covered business and economic issues. His work has won several prizes, including business journalism's most prestigious, the Gerald Loeb Award. Blustein lives in Bethesda, MD.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ PublicAffairs (May 8, 2003)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 448 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1586481819
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1586481810
Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 1460L
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.17 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1.14 x 8.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,345,398 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,323 in International Economics (Books)
- #1,434 in Economic Policy & Development (Books)
- #2,894 in Economic History (Books)

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Stephen K Jones

But I think it is quite clear from Blustein's engaging history covering the IMF's involvement with predominantly Asia through th

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 18, 2015

Verified Purchase

One wonders how anyone might utter the phrase "free market" while maintaining a straight face. But I think it is quite clear from Blustein's engaging history covering the IMF's involvement with predominantly Asia through the 1990's that leaving that financial crisis to the free market would have been the worst possible outcome. My only criticism, if I would make one of a most readable account of international financial organizations and their operations, is that I would have liked the function of the IMF compared to the function that the gold standard played; both operate in the aether that ties the value of one country's currency to another's and are buffeted by arbitrage.

2 people found this helpful

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Jason Fossen

Almost better than Jack London...

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 5, 2009

Verified Purchase

Even if you're not an economics geek, this is a great book. Fast-moving, fun to read, balanced, fills out the macro theory with the people/passions/conflicts behind it, and especially fun to read after having lived through the financial crisis starting in 2008 (for example, there are stories of Summers, Geitner and other heavy hitters, giving backdrop to the players on C-SPAN during the crisis). This would be an ideal book for an undergradute macroeconomics course for non-economics majors, and really for anyone with an interest in the IMF, World Bank and monetary policy generally but who doesn't want to jump into the mathematics deep end.

4 people found this helpful

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Intelligent Investor

IMF revealed!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 19, 2004

Verified Purchase

A very thorough review of the IMF and how it handles a country in financial crisis. It was eye opening to say the least, and quite informative to say the most. Well researched and documented by first person interviewing of IMF and World Bank, as well as geopolitical officials. Read this one, and "Tug Of War", as well as "The Vandals Crown", and you'll come away with a deeper understanding of how the IMF, World Bank, and currency markets really work.

3 people found this helpful

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rvarghese

Terrific economic journalism

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 21, 2013

Verified Purchase

This book skilfully weaves together the disparate elements of the 1997-1999 crisis. It's not an easy story to tell given its wide-ranging geographical scope, but Blustein manages it brilliantly. Required reading for anyone interested in international finance and economic affairs, told in a fast-paced and engaging style.

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Kindle Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 2, 2011

Verified Purchase

It is a fascinating account; flows well. Thoroughly researched. Includes informative comparison between the IMF and World Bank cultures. Korea, Thailand, Russia interventions covered and explained chronically.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 9, 2013

Verified Purchase

Although it said new, the content and the face page was quite old with second hand stamps on the side.

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brianpablo

A Primer on Why Third World Debt Is Such a Mess

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 31, 2006

There are many good reasons to bash the IMF but few reasons to do so if you don't know what you're talking about -- this books lets you do both.

I've spent years in social circles that carry on a tragic lament of third world debt to first world countries, a lament I agree with but often find is expressed through oft-repeated anti-globalization mantras with no perception of how hideously complex the situation is.

This book gives you the tools to make cogent criticisms of the IMF while simultaneously learning about the herculean chore the IMF has before it. Blustein describes the mechanics of how financial crises arose in the fateful year of 1997 in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Korea, and later in Russia and Brazil. A combination of cookie-cutter shock therapy schemes, out-of-touch IMF officials, incompetent and often corrupt finance ministry officials and Wall Street Bankers converge to make it nearly impossible for countries to escape the wrath of an increasingly volatile group of investors the author appropriately dubs the "Electronic Herd."

The pattern is now a familiar one -- irresponsible fiscal and monetary policy leaves a country exposed to predatory lenders and currency speculators. Investors and debt holders see the country's dwindling hard currency reserves as sign of imminent collapse and begin to sell off every asset they have there, creating a vicious circle of panic. The IMF is called in to make sure the country doesn't go bankrupt by providing loans of hard currency -- but who's being bailed out, the country itself of the lenders that put their money there?

Blustein explains how this dynamic was repeated in each of the countries of the 1997 and 1998 crises, with the IMF response working in everyone's favor in only two cases among a string of dismal failures. He extensively explores the issue of "moral hazard," or the idea that big loan packages to economies in crisis just reinforces irresponsible behavior on the part of both the lenders and the borrowers.

Can get a little tedious at times, and the sequence of events is sometimes hard to follow because so much is being explained at once -- but overall a well written work by a reporter who covered the subject for years.

4 people found this helpful

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