G20 must embark on more radical reform – US economists

We have invited several of the leading US macroeconomists who have advised the Government or bodies such as the International Monetary Fund to give their views on what the London Summit must achieve.

Raghuram Rajan, the Eric J. Gleacher Distinguished Service Professor of Finance at Chicago Booth, was chief economist of the IMF between 2003 and 2006. He argues that there is an urgent need to reform global institutions more dramatically than envisaged by the G20.

Barry Eichengreen, George C. Pardee and Helen N. Pardee Professor of Economics and Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley, was Senior Policy Advisor at the IMF from 1997-98. He argues that the G20 needs an overall game plan so that it knows on what issues, such as IMF reform to compromise so as to make progress on issues, like global rebalancing, even remotely feasible.

Ted Truman, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics since 2001, served as assistant secretary of the US Treasury for International Affairs from December 1998 to January 2001. He calls for a commitment to an immediate, one-time allocation of $250bn in special drawing rights (SDR) by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to its 185 member countries.