The IMF has a blog?

Not to be outdone by its sister institution, the blogging World Bank, the International Monetary Fund has just launched a blog in time for this year's all-important annual meetings, which begin on the 20th. The blog is written by Simon Johnson, an MIT professor on loan to the IMF who directs the Fund's research department.

In his first post, Johnson acknowledges that the IMF was slow to understand this summer's credit crisis, but reassures us that "the direct impact on global growth is likely to be relatively modest." Why is that? Johnson writes:

The key to our assessment is that while the financial turmoil affected a wide range of industrial countries, emerging markets appear likely to be little affected.  Largely this is because they have been running careful macro policies but also because many of them have worked hard to improve their institutions.  Emerging markets are increasingly the driver of global growth.  This is not without its complications -- for them, managing capital inflows is becoming increasingly tricky (see chapter 3 of the WEO) [World Economic Outlook] -- but this fact should still keep the world economy in good shape for the next 12-15 months.

Already, Johnson has begun a discussion with Nobel laureate Gary Becker on whether there is a link between globalization and rising inequality around the world. Call me a nerd, but I'm excited to see these two extremely smart, accomplished people debating big issues in a blog setting. Pass the popcorn.