The International Monetary Fund 1972 1978

IMF History (1972-1978), Volume 1

IMF History (1972-1978) Volume 2

IMF economists work closely with member countries on a variety of issues. Their unique perspective on country experiences and best practices on global macroeconomic issues are often shared in the form of books on diverse topics such as cross-country comparisons, capacity building, macroeconomic policy, financial integration, and globalization.

Growing global imbalances threaten to induce a collapse of the dollar, which could in turn produce a severe recession in the rest of the world. This crisis could force countries to say "never again" and search for a system to prevent similar disasters. The system that could do so is a reference rate system—where countries' authorities are forbidden from intervening in order to push the exchange rate too far from what is termed the "reference rate." It could help a country's authorities manage its exchange rate to avoid large misalignments, assist the private sector in forming more dependable expectations of future exchange rates and thus to manage their businesses more efficiently in a world of floating exchange rates, and aid the International Monetary Fund in designing and managing an effective system of multilateral surveillance. The world economy would function better as a result, with less chance of the global imbalances leading to a world recession.

This volume is a contribution to the debates surrounding international monetary reform. The author examines and analyses the workings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and suggests how the international monetary system could, through changes to the IMF, be reshaped and reformed. Chapters examine the Palais-Royal report, explain how the IMF could be granted unlimited bailout powers to confront a global crisis, propose an exchange-rate based mechanism by which the international community could discipline excessive imbalances, examine alternative possibilities for the supply of future reserves, advocate `enthronement of the Special Drawing Right’, and discuss the obstacles in the way of such an ambitious reform agenda.

This volume--the fifth in a series of histories of the International Monetary Fund--examines the 1990s, a tumultuous decade in which the IMF faced difficult challenges and took on new and expanded roles. Among these were assisting countries that had long operated under central planning to manage transitions toward market economies, helping countries in financial crisis after sudden loss of support from private financial markets, adapting surveillance to reflect the growing acceptance of international standards for economic and financial policies, helping low-income countries grow and begin to eradicate poverty while staying within its mandate as a monetary institution, and providing adequate financial assistance to members in an age of limited official resources. The IMF's successes and setbacks in facing these challenges provide valuable lessons for an uncertain future.