My candidate for IMF chief

... is Arminio Fraga, central banker extraordinaire and a terrific economist. In any meritocratic search, he would have to come out on or very near the top. But he has the wrong nationality for the job. Europeans are mulling European names, as tradition demands.   

UPDATE: Mali asks what my views are on

the new IMF decision on exchange rate surveillance .... Basically now for each country's report, Fund staff have to provide a view whether the exchange rate is misaligned, and by how much, according to various methods/measurements (which the results sometimes vary in great magnitude and direction).

This is a complicated one, because a country's exchange rate policy has obvious externalities for other countries. So this cannot be a free-for-all and there is indeed some role for exchange-rate surveillance. But if you take the view, as I do, that exchange-rate undervaluation is a second-best policy to overcome distortions in tradable industries, then it is also the case that you must provide developing countries with some leeway in their conduct of exchange-rate policy.  The IMF gets it particularly wrong when it says it will use management of the capital account as an indication of currency manipulation--but that is yet another story. My concern is that the developmental role of currency policies is being neglected in all the focus on "external stability." I hope to return to this topic later.

Comments

[Mali]

It's difficult to see how the Europeans would give up this tradition when the US has recently held on to its World Bank president post...

Anyway, I am wondering what's your thought on the new IMF decision on exchange rate surveillance (I just saw in this blog that you are working on a paper about RER and growth). Basically now for each country's report, Fund staff have to provide a view whether the exchange rate is misaligned, and by how much, according to various methods/measurements (which the results sometimes vary in great magnitude and direction).

[Emmanuel]

The changes mentioned by Mali regarding Article IV demonstrate to me at least that those who claim the IMF serves America's interests have a good point. Really, does it matter who is chosen to be the next IMF head if we get the same, America-friendly bias? I am no fan of China's currency shenanigans, but when the playing field is tilted so obviously in America's favor, it makes you wonder:

http://ipezone.blogspot.com/2007/06/is-imf-americas-lackey.html

Also, don't forget that increased IMF "concern" over sovereign wealth funds echoes the US line. The IMF parrots Washington; what else is new?:

http://ipezone.blogspot.com/2007/06/scrutinizing-sovereign-wealth-funds.html

[Cho]

As a Zambian I naturally prefer the Zambian born Stanley Fischer. Its the closest we can get to an "African" being in charge of this important institution :)

[Mauricio Santoro]

Dear prof. Rodrik,

I worked for a brief time for Fraga, in the publish house he owned during a few years.

Let me add to his qualifications that he has a great taste for books. For example, he published Charles Kindleberger´s "Manias, Panics and Crashes" in Brazil.

And of course, he did a good job in the Brazilian Central Bank, in a very, very difficult moment in my country´s recent history.

Regards,

[Per Kurowski]

Given that all central bankers are basically the same no matter where they come from; since otherwise they would not be allowed to belong to that exclusive club of mutual admiration of the central bankers of which the IMF is their main clubhouse, I really do not care where the IMF chiefs comes from. In this respect I would not mind a bit having a non central banker extraordinaire being the IMF chief, even if he was from Europe, as that would at least bring in some diversity to counter all those central banker directors, central bank staff and central bank messenger boys.

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