ABSTRACT
Then abruptly, the mood turns brutal. In the fall of 1998, the financial world looks as if it has been struck by a hurricane. The oncevaunted economies of the Asian miracle crumble, with millions of the middle class thrust into poverty. Japan is mired in seemingly endless recession. The Russian economy has come unstuck in mid-August, sending overstretched investors reeling. Brazil is teetering on the brink. Europe is struggling with the meaning of the Euro. The dollar and the New York Stock Exchange gyrate wildly. The global financial system, which just a few months ago seemed so robust, now appears to be on the very edge of chaos. Amid premonitions of imminent financial catastrophe, the idea of an international institution dedicated to
finance and lending, which had recently seemed obsolete, now looms as an obvious and overriding global priority.
