Questions for the IMF and World Bank

Remove all ads!

I'm going to the states in about a week and we'll be visiting the world bank and the IMF there. We have all been asked to find 2 good questions that have to do with these institutions, but I really don't have a clue.

I was thinking something about globalisation or Kyoto, but then I realised that you debaters probably have much more interesting and pressing questions than I could come up with. So, If you've got something to ask, grab this chance. I'll let you know what the answer was.

 

Do they give out free samples?

 

Here are two questions I'd ask of the IMF:
1) How do they manage to get those messages to self-destruct after 5 seconds and has anyone has ever had to ask for an extra copy (because they weren't paying enough attention first time around)?
2) How often has the 'Secretary' had to disavow any knowledge of someone's actions?

 

Since Paul Wolfowitz, the new head of the World Bank Group , believes that Africa could be significantly helped to develop prehaps a question regarding what is actually planned might be in order.

A similar question for the IMF.

 

Sorry, Uytuun and dmc, I couldn't help it.

I do have two serious questions though:

1) In recent years, the advance of free trade has resulted in many jobs and industries moving from expensive Western countries to less expensive Asian countries. What do you see as being the eventual conclusion to all this? Will we see wages in Asian countries rising to become more in line with falling wages in Western countries?

2) What will happen if the Chinese decide to float their currency instead of pegging it to the US dollar?

 

Somewhat related to HB's question #2:

What would be the consequences to both the U.S. and global economies if the U.S. dollar was no longer the only widely-accepted currency for purchasing oil?

 

Is the IMF/World Bank in a position to put any teeth into the Kyoto Protocols by levying financial penalties against first-world offenders, and using those monies to help fund environmentally-sustainable development in the third world?

 

What can Asian countries do with all the US dollars they are collecting from all the products they sell to the USA? If they tried to offload all that currency at once, wouldn't the US dollar collapse? The Asians wouldn't want that to happen because then their holdings would plummet in value. So what can they do with it all other than use it to buy assets like US companies? Does this mean that Asians will end up owning more and more of the USA? What impact would all of this have on the global economy?

 

Sadly, no. They really don't have any enforcement power at all. While I suppose they theoretically COULD levy some type of penalty (in that I don't know if this has been a power agreed upon that the IMF has), history indicates that they usually do not.

I agree that offloading all that currency all at once would be disasterous, not only to the U.S., but China as well. Not only would the dollar plummet, but then all of the investments that China has in the U.S. would plummet as well. That having been said, you correctly point out that it is unlikely to happen as it isn't in China's best interest. One thing that they can spend all those dollars on is oil. Naturally, they don't want to offload them all at once, but my understanding is that many people in the Middle East like U.S. dollars and will sell you oil with that currency. One thing that China is going to need a lot more of in the upcoming decades is oil. Given the rate at which cars are being purchased, it is extremely unlikely that China has the type of natural reserves necessary to supply themselves.

 

Thanks guys!