Bretton Woods constituted the first formal international agreement on a code of conduct applicable for economic transactions among countries that had subscribed to it. This pamphlet focuses on only one aspect of that code of conduct: the norms that have guided the conduct of financial and...

This paper reviews experience with currency convertibility on both the current and capital accounts, with particular attention to the Fund’s concepts and policy implications. After discussing the basic concepts of convertibility, the paper reviews the experience with convertibility in three...

This paper develops a theory of international currency portfolios that holds in general equilibrium, and that is therefore not subject to the criticisms directed at the portfolio balance literature of the 1980s. It shows that, under plausible assumptions about fiscal policy, the relationship...

The IMF was established in 1944 in part to “give confidence” to member countries by providing short-term credits. Although the intention was that the availability of the Fund’s resources should prevent countries from experiencing financial crises, in practice the institution often has...