↪re: Institutional Drift
Meets Change at the Speed of Light
Dear Readers,
As we progress eventfully through 2025, the global economic landscape continues to shift beneath our feet. At econVue, we have provided commentary and analysis along the way that we hope will prepare you for the changes still to come. From China's renewed push for self-reliance, to dramatic shifts in US trade policy, to the rise of female leadership in Asia, and conflicts like Ukraine that remain unresolved—these developments demand our close attention.
Everyone is searching for answers and useful perspectives during this period of worldwide uncertainty. Since our last edition of re:Vue (our digest of econVue content) we have welcomed a number of new subscribers. Thank you—and welcome! In case you missed these stories the first time around, you’ll find our most recent articles, Vuepoints, podcasts, and panel recaps below.
Many thanks to our supercontributors Marsha Vande Berg, Karim Pakravan, and Eleanor Hughes, as well as Michael Lewis for his always sagacious contributions to our panel discussions.
This past week, the Spring Meetings of the World Bank and IMF meetings were held in a Washington that has been reshaped by the Trump Administration. International institutions have become a particular target: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pointedly remarked that the IMF and World Bank have overreached by focusing on social issues instead of their core missions: stabilizing international finance.
❝ The IMF and World Bank have enduring value. But mission creep has knocked these institutions off course. We must enact key reforms to ensure the Bretton Woods institutions are serving their stakeholders—not the other way around.
By the way, there are a plethora of meetings and panels at the Spring Meetings, and I always find something new and useful. Many are available online. Their publications are well worth perusing for subjects of special interest.
A notable example of thi broader institutional reckoning was the annual Group of Thirty (G30) lecture delivered by Kevin Warsh, a likely successor to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell next year. Warsh argues that central banking is also at a crossroads:
❝ The Fed has acted more as a general-purpose agency of government than a narrow central bank.
❝Forays far afield—for all seasons and all reasons—have led to systematic errors in the conduct of macroeconomic policy.
❝ Institutional drift has coincided with the Fed’s failure to satisfy an essential part of its statutory remit: price stability.
❝ The Fed’s current wounds are largely self-inflicted, and its plot armor is showing its wear.
Full lecture here:
In a world that is changing at breathtaking speed,, it is perhaps unsurprising that both national and international financial institutions are struggling to keep up. Together, the remarks by Bessent and Warsh should be read as a wake-up call. The question is: Are these old frameworks flexible enough to adapt to today’s geoeconomics realities?
–𝓁𝓎𝓇𝒾𝒸 💬
Editor-in-Chief
📍Chicago
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