Mauritania / IMF program & RSF reviews staff report. For the RSF, includes a highly informative schematic which for a range of climate actions, outlines the starting point, the desired end point, and an arrow with actions where the green part covers what IMF can do. www.imf.org/en/publicati...

Uganda / IMF post-financing assessment staff report. The occasional reminder of a bizarre lingering sovereign debt situation: a $657 (yes, no zeroes or units missing) debt to Iraq that dates from the 1970s, an Idi Amin / Saddam deal denominated in Iraqi Dinar! www.imf.org/en/publicati...

Japan is trapped between preventing a fiscal crisis, which requires JGB yield caps, and Yen devaluation, which will only stop if yields are allowed to rise freely. Only way out from this trap is for the government to sell financial assets and pay down debt.
robinjbrooks.substack.com/p/japans-fx-...

Zambia / IMF ECF final (6th) review staff report. Very useful description (see Box 2) of fuel arrears clearance (if you think interest & penalties on sovereign debt are severe, you should see the analogous for fuel supply). Govt achieved consolidation & NPV savings. www.imf.org/en/publicati...

"If my country engages in industrial policy to increase the manufacturing share of my economy, then whether you like it or not, my industrial policy becomes your industrial policy in reverse."
jacobin.com/2025/12/glob...

"You must reduce your manufacturing share of your economy and shift from tradable goods to non-tradable goods, whether that’s your policy or not."
jacobin.com/2025/12/glob...

"We live in a hyper-globalized open economy where “beggar-thy-neighbor” trade and imbalances persist, and where some countries are savings constrained and some are not. At the center is China’s struggle to rebalance after its growth model sputtered out."
jacobin.com/2025/12/glob...

That said, given the confluence of fiscal and monetary crises and challenges coming to a head in the early 1970s, I'm not sure what alternatives there were to an open capital account. If you've written on that, I'd be curious to know what you've proposed.

We didn't have a truly open capital account until the early 1980s, which is probably why the eurodollar market, which was on offshore dollar market separated from the onshore dollar market, was mostly a creature of the late 1960s and 1970s.

In any case, wear whatever you'd like, although I will personally smile if I see a four-in-hand. If you find your tie reaches below your belt, consider the double-FIH or the Bertie knot. Mark of The Armoury demonstrates these techniques here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtfExDMRtPc (18/19)