Outside of a humanitarian crisis—such as a famine or a natural disaster—it is hard to make the case that any country deserves another's economic support. To paraphrase Britain's Lord Palmerston, countries do not have permanent friends, only permanent interests.

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The prospective challenge of containing inflation, buttressing a collapsed housing market, and normalizing the Federal Reserve's bloated balance sheet has created an "exit strategy" dilemma for Chairman Ben Bernanke. CFR Director of International Economics Benn Steil urges the Federal Reserve to swap mortgage-backed securities with the U.S. Treasury in exchange for Treasury securities, which the Fed can then sell as part of a normal process of monetary tightening.

CFR Director of International Economics Benn Steil urges the Federal Reserve to swap mortgage-backed securities with the U.S. Treasury in exchange for Treasury securities, which the Fed can then sell as part of a normal process of monetary tightening as a solution for the prospective challenge of containing inflation, buttressing a collapsed housing market, and normalizing its bloated balance sheet.

America's generals understandably spend much of their time worrying about strong countries, notes Richard N. Haass. But in today's world, when the consequences of weakness in the remotest areas can quickly become global, the United States arguably has more to fear from weak countries.

Benn Steil and Dinah Walker explain why the Fed's massive holdings of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) are distorting its thinking about the conduct of monetary policy going forward. They propose a novel plan to rectify this, in which the Fed swaps its MBS with the Treasury in return for Treasury securities, which the Fed can sell as part of a normal "exit" from monetary stimulus.

Peter Orszag argues that giving health-care providers a fixed payment for each Medicare beneficiary could provide a path forward between competing views of health care reform offered by Republicans and Democrats.

To date, Chinese officials have asserted that their interest in Gwadar is strictly a commercial effort to provide another energy corridor for Middle East oil, and Pakistani government officials stridently affirm this position. New Delhi, on the other hand, has expressed "concern" about the true motivations in developing Gwadar, suspecting that it is a Sino-Pak effort at encirclement.

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Benn Steil explains in his column for Dow Jones' Financial News why the latest craze in monetary policymaking—targeting nominal output—has no staying power.

Joshua Kurlantzick discusses the China model of economic development, which he describes as, "economic liberalization without political liberalization."

Recent developments in Portugal provide yet another example of the growing political strength of anti-austerity forces in Europe.

Peter Orszag examines how cities could foster more public-private partnerships in infrastructure construction with revenue-based auctions.

The world may expect great things from India, but as extensive reporting reveals, Indians themselves turn out to be deeply skeptical about their country's potential. That attitude, plus New Delhi's dysfunctional foreign-policy bureaucracy, prevent long-term planning of the sort China has mastered -- and are holding India back.

Much of the outrage over economic inequality in the United States has centered on the high compensation and lack of accountability that corporate executives supposedly enjoy -- allegedly the result of boards at public companies. The truth, however, is that American CEOs now earn less and get fired more than in the recent past.

The results of Europe's experiment with austerity are in and they're clear: it doesn't work. Here's how such a flawed idea became the West's default response to financial crises.

Sub-Saharan Africa's GDP has grown five percent a year since 2000 and is expected to grow even faster in the future. Although pessimists are quick to point out that this growth has followed increases in commodities prices, the success of recent political reforms and the increased openness of African societies give the region a good chance of sustaining its boom for years to come.

For the U.S. economy to reach its full potential, argues Edward Conard, Washington should decrease federal spending and ease government regulation. Fareed Zakaria demurs, contending that structural reform and government investment are what the U.S. economy needs most.

Nobel Laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz discusses how the lack of financial regulation creates market instability which results in inequality, and addresses ways to strengthen both the U.S. and international economy, to prevent further collapse.

Joyce Chang, Richard H. Clarida, and Peter B. Henry discuss how emerging markets have responded to the global recession of 2008–2009 and potential lessons for developed countries.

The IMF Board of Governors is advised by the Development Committee and the International Monetary and Financial Committee. After the IMF-World Bank Spring meetings, both committees released final communiqués on April 20, 2013.

Shannon O'Neil reflects on the early years of her "twenty-year relationship with Mexico."