Like all institutions, international financial institutions (IFIs) (1) are creatures of their past. Their organisation and orientation reflect the economic and political contexts in which they were born and evolved. So, too, will their future be shaped by global trends and the ways they respond...

Since the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund were launched at Bretton Woods more than 50 years ago, and the regional development banks in subsequent decades, the world economy has changed in important respects. In considering the role of international financial institutions (IFIs),...

The international economic order pursued by the Bretton Woods 'founding fathers' was based on the idea that a combination of different international institutions would be needed to keep the world financial system from degenerating into periodic and destructive crises (Mikesell, 1994). Following...

Changes in the role of collective action at the international level, in the international economic environment, and, most importantly, our better understanding of economics in general require that we rethink the role of international financial institutions (IFIs). For multilateral development...

The next 20 to 30 years will be a period of unprecedented and accelerating change as a result of two powerful forces - the advent of a radically different world economy, and the explosion of the world's population. As these forces are unleashed, the world's nation-states - weakened by their...

The European Investment Bank (EIB) differs from most other international financial institutions (IFIs) in that it lends in all of its member countries, not only in its poorer members. It does lend throughout the world, but most of its lending is within the European Union (EU). A significant...