In this Policy Contribution, Jean Pisani-Ferry, takes a look at the way the IMF his gradually making its come-back from an era of crisis confidence and legitimacy. The author believes the Fund could gain a significant role as the key institution that links macroeconomic and financial...

In this timely policy contribution, Visiting Scholar Ignazio Angeloni suggests that the Pittsburgh G20 may represent policymakers' last chance at real financial market reform. He develops a shortlist of recommendations for world leaders to tackle at the summit and says that world leaders at the...

After World War II, all industrial countries have reached a level of prosperity unprecedented in history; many developing countries and several socialist countries have experienced notable economic growth too. The post-war multilateral trading and monetary systems have been singled out by...

Der Vorwurf von Globalisierungsgegnern, der IWF und die Weltbank trügen einen wesentlichen Teil der Verantwortung für weltweite Armut und gehäufte Finanzkrisen, ist nicht haltbar. Der Einfluss der Bretton- Woods-Institutionen auf die Wirtschaftspolitik und die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung...

The IMF must change its sanction and incentive systems so that the next crisis is more likely to be prevented. It should concentrate more on ex ante prevention, which can be done by clearly specifying the rules that will be applied ex post. It should also rely more on automatic mechanisms that...

Das Papier untersucht die Rolle von IWF, Weltbank und WTO und ihre Arbeitsteilung. Ich diskutiere die Gründe für ihre Existenz und ihre ursprünglichen Aufgaben und frage, inwieweit es ihnen gelungen ist, sich den veränderten Bedingungen und ihren neuen Aufgaben anzupassen....

There have been several proposals to reduce the observed volatility of flexible exchange rates. The paper reviews two recent opposite views on the appropriateness of a common world currency for this purpose. Referring to an adequately formulated theory of world money, it is shown that there is...

Under the world dollar standard, a discrete appreciation by a dollar creditor country of the United States, such as China or Japan, has no predictable effect on its trade surplus. Currency appreciation by the creditor country will slow its economic growth and eventually cause deflation but...

Is there a valid argument for international cooperation, and some form of international governance structure, in the international monetary realm? On the purely economic front, the argument is not strong. Yet a broader political economy approach concludes that national currency policy can in...

Is there a valid argument for international cooperation, and some form of international governance structure, in the international monetary realm? On the purely economic front, the argument is not strong. Yet a broader political economy approach concludes that national currency policy can in...