International Economic And Financial Cooperation

This sixth title in the Geneva Reports on the World Economy series looks at international economic cooperation in the twenty-first century.

This book discusses issues such as global financial crisis and global governance, food security, energy sustainability, the global financial system, trade and protectionism, and growth and employment. Since the outbreak of the financial as well as national debt crises in the Euro zone, the focus of the G20 has shifted back to addressing short-term issues. These issues range from the dynamic effects of global imbalances and the appropriate degree of financial sector regulation to questions of austerity versus growth and the lack of a comprehensive framework for managing the international monetary system. A further issue is the relevance of the G20 agenda for emerging market economies. Global economic recovery still remains fragile and downside risks to global growth remain. Additionally, much of the agenda of the Seoul Development Consensus for shared growth launched in 2010 has yet to be fulfilled. A key discussion point in the book, therefore, is how to make a tangible and significant difference in peoples’ lives by implementing an agenda of inclusive growth.​

In September 1985, emissaries of the world's five leading industrial nations—the United States, Britain, France, Germany, and Japan—secretly gathered at the Plaza Hotel in New York City and unveiled an unprecedented effort to correct the largest set of current account and exchange rate imbalances that had ever threatened the world economy. The Plaza Accord is credited with sharply realigning exchange rates, significantly reducing current account imbalances, and countering protectionist pressures in the United States. But did the Accord provide a foundation for ongoing international financial stability and policy coordination? Or was it simply a unique one-time coincidence of national interests? The Plaza experience continues to inform today's debates about the limits and possibilities of international monetary cooperation. In late 2015, leading policymakers and economists—including those who were involved in the Accord's design, negotiation, and implementation—held a Plaza Retrospective conference at the Baker Institute for Public Policy to evaluate the Accord's legacy and how its collaborative spirit can be applied today. This volume presents their views and analyses to provide guidance for a time when the world again faces the prospect of currency disequilibria, growing imbalances, trade policy reactions, and thus uncertainty for both the global economy and world politics.

Using the experience of postwar Western Europe as a benchmark, José Antonio Ocampo and his colleagues assess how regional financial institutions can help developing countries—often at a disadvantage within the global financial framework— finance their investment needs, counteract the volatility of private capital flows, and make their voices heard. The 1997 Asian financial crisis generated extensive debate on the international financial architecture. Through this discussion, it became clear that services by financial institutions— including adequate mechanisms for preventing and managing financial crises, and instruments for safeguarding global macroeconomic and financial stability—are undersupplied. Furthermore, private international capital markets provide finance to developing countries in a way that effectively reduces the ability of those nations to undertake countercyclical macroeconomic policies. International capital markets ration out many developing countries, particularly the poorest, from private global capital markets. While these deficiencies in the financial architecture are clear, the post-1997 debate has done little to evaluate the role that regional institutions could play in improving global financial arrangements. Regional Financial Cooperation aims to fill that important gap. Contributors include Ernest Aryeetey (Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research, University of Ghana), Georges Corm (Saint Joseph University, Beirut), Roy Culpeper (North-South Institute, Ottawa), Ana Teresa Fuzzo de Lima (Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex), Stephany Griffith-Jones (Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex), Julia Leung (Hong Kong Monetary Authority), José Luis Machinea (ECLAC), Jae Ha Park (Korean Institute of Finance),Yung Chul Park (Korea University), Fernando Prada (FORO Nactional/International, Lima), Guillermo Rozenwurcel (School of Politics and Government, University of San Martin, Argentina), Francisco Sagasti (FORO Nacional/Internacional, Programa Agenda: Peru), Kanit Sangsubhan (Fiscal Policy Research Institute of Thailand), Alfred Steinherr (European Investment Bank, Luxembourg and University of Bozen-Bolzano), Daniel Titelman (ECLAC), and Charles Wyplosz (Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva, and Center for Economic Policy Research).

This study examines the case for and against regional financial arrangements in East Asia, describes the Chiang Mai Initiative, compares it to financial arrangements in other regions. It speaks specifically to the concerns of American, European and multilateral organizations, assessing the pros and cons for the global system of such regional financial arrangements.

On the occasion of the 95th birthday of Helmut Schmidt, West German Chancellor 1974–1982, his biographer Hartmut Soell, Professor of History at Heidelberg University and former member of the German Parliament (1980–1994), presents H. Schmidt as a Pioneer of International Economic and Financial Cooperation. Influenced by the catastrophes of the early 20th century (global economic crisis, dictatorship and war), Schmidt entered politics as a trained economist and was one of the most innovative policymakers from the 1960s to the 1980s. As minister of defense, economy and finance and as Chancellor he was able to implement many of his ideas for closer cooperation between Western industrial states on currency issues and energy policy during the 1970s. Together with French President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing he launched the G7 summits in 1975 and his proposals for a European currency system (1978–79) paved the way for the European economic and currency union. As editor of Die Zeit, he would later become an influential commentator.

"A readable, balanced, and provocative view of the prospects for fruitful international economic cooperation. The papers are realistic: each discusses the difficulties involved in reaching cooperative solutions or procedures as well as the benefits of doing so. The discussion among the conference participants is lively, interesting, and insightful."--William H. Branson, Princeton University

Contents: (1) Intro.; (2) The Rise of the G-20 as the Premier Forum for Internat. Econ. Cooperation: 1970s-1990s: Developed Countries Dominate Financial Discussions; 1990s-2008: Emerging Markets Gain Greater Influence; 2008¿Present: Emerging Markets Get a Seat at the Table; (3) How the G-20 Operates; (4) Overview of the G-20 Summits: Wash., DC, Nov. 2008; London, April 2009; Pittsburgh, Sept. 2009; Protests at G-20 Summits; (5) Issues on the Horizon: Regulatory Reform; Increasing the Representation of Emerging Markets in Internat. Financial Institutions; Increased Funding of the Multilateral Develop. Banks; A Green Recovery; WTO Doha Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations; (6) Transition from G-7 to G-20.