The Newfoundland lesson: during the 1930s, long before the IMF, the British Empire coped with a debt crisis in a small country. - Entrepreneur.com

As the frequency of developing country debt crises will testify, there is often a contradiction in the modern era between democracy and debt. Voters elect governments that pursue populist policies which lead to debt crises. The countries then turn to the International Monetary for help. The IMF attempts to impose conditions that set the stage for economic slumps. The governments became highly unpopular and sometimes suffer counterrevolutions. The recent histories of Indonesia and Argentina are case studies in such a process. But there are other less dramatic examples in Latin America, Africa, and Asia of tension between democracy and IMF-driven austerity.

The Newfoundland lesson: during the 1930s, long before the IMF, the British Empire coped with a debt crisis in a small country. - Entrepreneur.com