Book
Resetting the International Monetary (Non)System

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International financial crises have plagued the world in recent decades, including the Latin American debt crisis of the 1980s, the East Asian crisis of the late twentieth century, and the global financial crisis of 2007-09. One of the basic problems faced during these crises is the lack of adequate preventive mechanisms, as well as insufficient instruments to finance countries in crisis and to overcome their over-indebtedness. Resetting the International Monetary (Non)System provides an analysis of the global monetary system and the necessary reforms that it should undergo to play an active role in the twenty-first century and proposes a comprehensive yet evolutionary reform of the system.

Criticising the ad hoc framework- a "(non)system"- that has evolved following the breakdown of the Bretton Woods arrangement in the early 1970's, Resetting the International Monetary (Non)System places a special focus on the asymmetries that emerging and developing countries face, analysing the controversial management of crises by the International Monetary Fund and proposing a consistent set of reform proposals to design a better system of international monetary cooperation. Policy orientated and structured to deal in a sequential way with the issues involved, it suggests provision of international liquidity through a system that mixes the multicurrency arrangement with a more active use of the IMF's Special Drawing Rights; stronger mechanisms of macroeconomic policy cooperation, including greater cooperation in exchange rate management and freedom to manage capital flows; additional automatic balance-of-payments financing facilities and the complementary use of swap and regional arrangements; a multilateral sovereign debt workout mechanism; and major reforms of the system's governance.

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Author

José Antonio Ocampo

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November 2017

Oxford University Press,

© UNU-WIDER 2017

Table of contents
  1. A brief history of the international monetary system since Bretton Woods
    José Antonio Ocampo
    More Working Paper | A brief history of the international monetary system since Bretton Woods
  2. The provision of global liquidity: the global reserve system
    José Antonio Ocampo
    More Working Paper | The Provision of Global Liquidity
  3. Global monetary co-operation and the exchange rate system
    José Antonio Ocampo
    More Working Paper | Global macroeconomic cooperation and the exchange rate system
  4. Capital account liberalization and management
    José Antonio Ocampo
    More Working Paper | Capital Account Liberalization and Management
  5. Resolution of balance of payments crises: emergency financing and debt workouts
    José Antonio Ocampo
    More Working Paper | Resolution of balance of payments crises
    More Research Brief | Debt
  6. The governance of the international monetary system
    José Antonio Ocampo
    More Working Paper | The Governance of the International Monetary System
  7. Reforming the (non)system
    José Antonio Ocampo
    More Working Paper | Reforming the global monetary non-system
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Endorsements

"José Antonio Ocampo, one of the world class economists, offers us here the elements of a comprehensive yet evolutionary reform of the international monetary system. This book is a urgent read for the G20, and for all those who consider a stable system to be key to international public good." - Michel Camdessus, former IMF Managing Director

"This book is a must-read for all who want to understand the gaps of the international monetary system, as well as the links between the workings of national economies and of that system. It is remarkable not only in providing a truly global perspective but also a deep analysis of the flaws of the system vis-à-vis emerging and developing countries." - Kemal Dervis, Vice-President and Director of Global Economy and Development at Brookings Institution, USA.

"José Antonio Ocampo is one of the most thoughtful critics of the international monetary system, but more significantly he is a prolific source of ideas for its reform. Implementing such ambitious reforms will not be easy - there are formidable diplomatic and political obstacles to overcome - but a first important step is to be clear on the concepts. There's no one better than Ocampo at conceptualizing the system, its flaws, and its fixes." - Barry Eichengreen, Professor at the University of California at Berkeley, USA

"Once in a while one comes across something that is so self-evidently right that one is momentarily surprised that it has not already been introduced, until one reflects on the current mediocre leadership of the world economy. That was my reaction on reading José Antonio Ocampo's tour de force on reforming the international monetary system. On topic after topicreserves, adjustment, the capital account, emergency financing, debt workouts, the institutional infrastructurehe combines reason with judgment of what may reasonably be sought." - John Williamson, Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, USA.

Context

Project
Macro-economic management (M-EM)
Corresponding publications
Book
| Hacia la reforma del (no) sistema monetario internacional
Keywords