In part, this is because the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has pushed for reductions in public-sector spending via the conditionalities it imposes on those poor countries that must borrow from it, rather than from private capital markets, during crises. In the recent crisis,for example, the IMF required budget reductions in a number of developing countries—Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Ghana, Latvia and Mali, among others (Weisbrot et al. The costs in terms of lost services and employment are painfully high amongst those who have the least savings and assets to weather economic storms, including women. The economic costs of procyclical (contractionary) policies relate to the negative economy-wide effects resulting from persistent high unemployment rates. Of great concern is that longterm unemployment contributes to skills erosion.