These volumes gather together a selection of autobiographical essays written by significant economists whose work is generally recognized to be at the forefront of the discipline as we enter the twenty-first century. The essays are largely based on introductions to volumes in the Edward Elgar...

In the terminology of the International Monetary Fund, "conditionality" refers to the policies the Fund expects a member to follow in order to be able to avail itself of credit from the Fund (Gold, 1979). Over the years, major changes in the landscape surrounding the Fund and in the situation of...

This paper describes how the changed conditions in the international monetary system have undermined the role originally envisaged for the SDR. It argues that the concept of a global stock of international liquidity, which was fundamental to the creation of the SDR, is now no longer relevant....

This paper describes the origin, evolution, and results of two initiatives taken by the United Kingdom in the early 1960s. Both initiatives aimed at facilitating large-scale lending by the IMF (or in close parallel to the IMF), primarily in support of the two reserve currencies of the...

This paper describes how the changed conditions in the international monetary system have undermined the role originally envisaged for the SDR. It argues that the concept of a global stock of international liquidity, which was fundamental to the creation of the SDR, is now no longer relevant....

This paper reviews the development over the past fifty years in the IMF of research on, and policy attitudes toward, exchange rate matters. Three successive phases are noted. In the first ten to fifteen years, within the confines of the par value system, research was mainly focused on achieving...