Brazil Fever
By Jeffrey D. Sachs
It's sad but true: the economics profession has failed Brazil – and much of the developing world – in the 1990's. Dozens of "emerging markets" are in chronic or acute financial crisis while economists argue endlessly – and without resolution – about what to do next. Should interest rates be raised or lowered? Exchange rates fixed or floated? Banks kept open or closed? Budget deficits reduced or raised? Even worse, the official world has anointed a single doctor, the International Monetary Fund, whose brand of medicine is decades out of date and whose principle strategy is to blame the patient for dying.