Research at Bond

Current Research Projects

Is the International monetary Fund (IMF) Starving Poor Countries to Death?

According to UNICEF figures, the debt crisis of the 1980s killed more people in Latin America and Africa than Hitler killed in the gas chambers of Nazi Germany.

Director of the Tim Fischer Centre for Global Trade and Finance based at Bond University, Professor Ross Buckley has focussed extensive research on how the guidelines set down by the International Monetary Fund have worsened, rather than solved, economic crises in developing countries.

“If Peter Costello gets his economic policy settings wrong, Australians lose their jobs; if the IMF gets its settings wrong, thousands of people die and millions go hungry,” said Prof Buckley.

“Looking at the Asian debt crisis of the late 1990s, for instance, the IMF’s policy of telling governments to cut back on expenditure actually worsened the situation.

“This was essentially a crisis of confidence arising from weak banking regulations leading to too much unhedged borrowing. Advising governments to cut spending programs worsened the crisis – it meant that there was even less money circulating through the system.

“Malaysia was one of the few countries that chose to go against the IMF’s stated policy and their economy recovered quicker than that of their neighbours.”

Prof Buckley believes that the IMF needs to be less patronising and more willing to learn from the policy makers in middle-income developing countries who have a much clearer understanding of their local issues like banking operations, legal processes and the level of corruption that impact on financial systems.

In addition to practicing law in Australia, Hong Kong and on Wall Street, Prof Buckley has consulted to the US Department of Justice, the governments of Indonesia and Vietnam, and to major banks, law firms and financial houses. He is currently serving as a consultant to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Key Project Team Members

  • Professor Laurence Boulle _ Bond University
  • Professor Ross Buckley

Contact:

Professor Laurence Boulle

Tim Fischer Centre for Global Trade and Finance
Faculty of Law
BOND UNIVERSITY QLD 4229
AUSTRALIA

Phone: (07) 5595 2250
Phone: +61 7 55952250
Email:
lboulle@staff.bond.edu.au