It's time to pick the best person as IMF head even if it isn't a European

The IMF needs a managing director of the highest caliber, chosen through an open competition not evidently tainted by national politics

Now that Christine Lagarde has announced her resignation as managing director of the International Monetary Fund, German chancellor Angela Merkel says Europeans "again" have a "claim" to fill what is arguably the world's most important economic job. Merkel is invoking a decades-old political deal, which gives Europe the IMF leadership in return for allowing Americans to run the World Bank.   

If global leaders want the IMF to achieve its mission of ensuring international financial stability, they should end this stitch-up and choose the best person for the job. They must also do more to depoliticise the fund.

Although Europeans