>Actually, Meltzer doesn't want *more* conditions, he wants fewer
>loans. Ask Allan, and he'll tell you that it would be much better to
>have governments disciplined by a laissez-faire capital market than
>disciplined by an IMF imposing conditions.
Which may be better than the present regime. In the 19th century, the U.S. defaulted all the time on private loans - and came back to the market not all that much later. Private markets have short memories; state institutions, longer ones. State institutions impose a coherence and discipline that private markets lack. No WB/IMF, no conditionality. And it's not like the very poor countries, those with no market access, are getting such a great deal from public institutions either. Shut 'em down!
Doug