Last week’s G-20 heads of state meeting took place against the backdrop of the worst global economic crisis in the postwar period. Yet judging by that meeting’s meager results—largely limited to an increase in the size of the International Monetary Fund—one could be excused for thinking that the G-20 must believe that whatever might presently be ailing the global economy can be readily fixed with an IMF band-aid. One has to hope that global policymakers get much more serious about the present economic crisis or the world economy will find itself caught in a deflationary trap.
