The association of place with memory was known to the ancients, long before Proust, and long before the invention of central banking. But I was struck at the recent Singapore meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) how much more interesting these meetings tend to be when they are away from Washington.

First let me correct myself. Financial journalists have a habit of referring to IMF meetings as if there were no World Bank. The late William Clark, who in 1956 resigned as press officer