International monetary system made by agreement in Bretton – Woods, is widely known to be the system of fixed exchange rates with allowed +/- 1% band of oscillation. As such, it is viewed as the period of exchange rates stability. However, our analysis of Reinhart – Rogoff’s (2004)...

We explore risk sharing patterns among European Community (EC) countries and among OECD countries during the period 1966-90. We find that, for OECD as well as for EC countries, about 40 percent of shocks to GDP are smoothed at the one year frequency, with about half the smoothing achieved...

In these brief concluding remarks, I confine myself to a few reflections on some of the themes that have been broached today, without much reference to individual authors or comments, as it would be impossible to summarize everything that has been said at this conference about the new...

Concern about unsustainable payments imbalances in the global economy has prompted renewed interest in international monetary reform. This paper describes and evaluates six reform proposals that focus on strengthening the institutional framework for the current system. Some of these proposals...

Proposals for dollarization and for expanding currency blocs implicitly acknowledge that the international monetary system is deeply flawed. The ongoing failures of fixed, floating, and pegged exchange rate regimes and currency boards are signaling that it is the currency regime itself that is...

La réforme du système monétaire international reste toujours au centre de l'attention des spécialistes de théorie monétaire et des responsables de la politique économique. Afin de résoudre les problèmes qui se posent dans ce domaine et d'évaluer les hypothèses de changement qui ont...

Drawing on recent research, this study elaborates on the role of the IMF in support of its lowincome members, pointing to the global character of the institution and to its superior ability-given its multilateral nature-to serve as a financial institution, an information provider, and a...

In this paper, I survey the issue of exchange rate regime choice from the perspective of both the industrial and emerging economies taking an historical perspective. I first survey the theoretical issues beginning with a taxonomy of regimes. I then examine the empirical evidence on the...

The international monetary system is largely the product of negotiations during World War II between U.S. and U.K. officials, led respectively by Harry Dexter White and John Maynard Keynes. The design of the system, especially the International Monetary Fund, reflects the U.S. plan much more...