Senior fellow Arvind Subramanian was quoted in an NPR article about IMF selection and emerging nations.
From the Article
A new director of the International Monetary Fund is due to be chosen by the end of this month. But while the institution's reputation has been tainted by the scandal that followed the arrest last month of its previous chief, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, in New York in connection with the attempted rape of a hotel maid, there's no shortage of interest in the top job.
The head of Mexico's central bank, Agustin Carstens, was in Washington on Monday, but not to discuss his country's economic issues. Carstens, a candidate to become the IMF's next managing director, was looking for U.S. support. Christine Lagarde, the French finance minister, is also running, as is Stanley Fischer, the governor of Israel's central bank.
The candidates have been flying around the world, in full campaign mode.
"I am who I am and I come with my set of background and skills and expertise which I think might be very successful for the job of managing the Fund in the current circumstances," Lagarde told Al Arabiya, the Saudi-owned news channel, last week.
As the French finance minister, Lagarde has played a leading role in managing Europe's worst financial crisis in many years. But by unofficial consensus, every IMF managing director since the Fund's creation has been a European; that's how the Fund's creators envisioned it.
'Position Has Become Contestable'
The world's emerging economic powers say it's time to open the job to other candidates. That's why Mexico's Carstens is running.
"My participation in this process is inspired by the principle that we emerging markets have been claiming for many years — that there needs to be open and transparent process," he said.
With Israel's Fischer throwing his hat in the ring last Friday, the IMF race has actually become interesting. Among those following it is Arvind Subramanian, who worked for years in the IMF's research department.
"This position has become contestable for the first time ever, and that's a reflection that the world is changing," he said. "Emerging market economies have become bigger, and the world has recognized that institutions need to change to adapt to these changing realities."