…in the White House. The guy is a genius, no doubt about that. Very respectable economist with lots of experience.
I wouldn’t say this was one of his finest moments, though:
He helped design bailouts for Mexico, South Korea, Indonesia and Brazil and worked closely with Russian officials trying to stave off that country’s financial crisis in 1998.
These IMF bailouts, if anything, prolonged the recession in these countries by forcing the “shock therapy” method. Too much faith in the invisible hand, perhaps, but it was also just lazy policymaking. Joseph Stiglitz has plenty to tell you about that.