ABSTRACT
A conflict between the views of the 'establishment' (including bankers, politicians and officials in power) and those of the 'anti-establishment' (academic economists, intellectuals, journalists and of course the representatives of the LDCs) is not without precedent. In connection with my topic, a typical establishment view is that if only they would try hard enough, the LDCs could work their way out of their debt problem on their own. The counter-view is, of course, that the debt crisis has become so serious that its resolution will require a timely, enormous – but most unlikely – input by creditor and other developed countries, and that if these inputs are not supplied in time and in proper measure, the world economy will either become a 'basket-case' or instead the debtors will –by accident I suppose – bail it out by refusing to follow the rules.
