When Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), said in Istanbul earlier this month that the Fund should become the international lender of last resort by creating a global reserves pool, many shrugged off the suggestion as yet another big idea that will bear little fruit.

But, though he acknowledges many barriers exist, for Barry Eichengreen, a professor of the University of California, Berkeley, the idea is one that is well worth trying.

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