What G20 Leaders Must Do to Stabilise Our Economy and Fix the Financial System

In late 2008 the world was at a dangerous point. Governments and central banks had just about stopped the bleeding in their financial systems following the fall of Lehman Brothers, but they were unprepared for the recession that was to infect all parts of the global economy and become a truly global crisis. This book, first published as an eBook to coincide with the November 2008 G20 meeting in Washington, provides the views of some of the world's leading economists on what world leaders needed to do - act quickly in: • The financial sector to strengthen and coordinate emergency measures to staunch the bleeding • The real sector using fiscal stimulus to get the patient's heart pumping again • The global arena to empower the IMF and other existing institutions to deal with the crisis in emerging markets. Above all, though, the recommendation was to do no harm. The authors knew that the wrong outcome from this meeting could have damaged the world economy rather than repair it. Fortunately, much of their advice was heeded. And while events have moved on, policymakers and opinion formers today could still do with a refresher. The authors are: Alberto Alesina, Erik Berglöf, Willem Buiter, Guillermo Calvo, Stijn Claessens, Paul De Grauwe, Wendy Dobson, Barry Eichengreen, Daniel Gros, Refet Gürkaynak, Takatoshi Ito, Vijay Joshi, Yung Chul Park, Raghuram Rajan, Dani Rodrik, Michael Spence, Guido Tabellini, David Vines, Ernesto Zedillo and Jeromin Zettelmeyer.