Global growth is projected to slow to 3.1% in 2016 before recovering to 3.4% in 2017. The forecast, revised down by 0.1% for 2016 and 2017 relative to April, reflects a more subdued outlook for advanced economies following the June UK vote in favour of leaving the European Union (Brexit) and weaker-than-expected growth in the United States.

The global financial crisis and the ensuing Great Recession raised concerns about adjustment fatigue, deflation, currency wars, and secular stagnation that presented a sense of deja vu: similar concerns had arisen at the time of the Great Depression and at the end of World War II. As with earlier crises, these concerns prompted calls for greater international policy cooperation--both to achieve a sustainable recovery from the crisis and to prevent future crises. This volume compiles papers from a 2015 symposium of eminent scholars convened by the IMF to discuss how history can inform current...