Jeff Frankel: Who Should Lead the IMF?

Jeff Frankel argues that the next managing director of the IMF should come from a developing country (I agree):

Who Should Lead the IMF?, by Jeffrey Frankel, Commentary, Project Syndicate: Every time the International Monetary Fund awaits a new managing director, critics complain that it is past time for the appointee to come from an emerging-market country. But whining won’t change the unjust 60-year-old tradition by which a European heads the IMF and an American leads the World Bank. Only if emerging-market countries unite behind a single candidate will they have a shot at securing the post.

Unfortunately, that is unlikely this time around, too, so the job will probably go to a European yet again. ... But the proposition that the ongoing sovereign-debt crisis on Europe’s periphery is a reason to appoint a European is wrong. ...

Europe has lost its implicit claim to be the best source of serious people with the experience needed to run the international monetary system. ...[continue reading]...