The IMF and its Critics Reform of Global Financial Architecture

The IMF is the first economic institution in line to protect countries from the effects of financial crises and to insulate the world economy from possible systemic risk. However, many argue that the IMF is insufficiently equipped to do this job, while others argue almost the opposite: the IMF's well-intentioned actions induce other countries to take risks which increase their exposure from both universities and the multilateral agencies, combines rigourous economic analysis with insider perspectives on key policy debates. It analyses the Asian and Argentine financial crises of the late 1990s, issues of policy ownership, the more general quest for financial stability and governance of the IMF. It is an essential reference for anyone interested in the role of international financial institutions in our globalised economy.

Introduction; 1. The IMF and international financial architecture: solvency and liquidity Christopher L. Gilbert, David Vines; 2. Progress towards greater international financial stability Andrew Crockett; 3. International coordination of macroeconomic policies: still alive in the new millennium? Lawrence H. Meyer, Brian M. Doyle, Joseph E. Gagnon, Dale W. Henderson; 4. The Report of the International Financial Institution Advisory Commission: comments on the critics Allan H. Meltzer; 5. Reforming the global financial architecture: just tinkering around the edges? Malcolm Knight, Lawrence Schembri, James Powell; 6. The IMF and capital account liberalisation Dominic Wilson; 7. How should the IMF view capital controls? Gregor Irwin, Christopher L. Gilbert, David Vines; 8. The resolution of international financial crises: an alternative framework Andrew G. Haldane, Mark Kruger; 9. Whose programme is it? Policy ownership and conditional lending James M. Boughton, Alex Mourmouras; 10. The IMF and East Asia: a changing regional financial architecture Gordon de Brouwer; 11. The role of the IMF in developing countries Graham Bird, Paul Mosley; 12. Argentina and the Fund: anatomy of a policy failure Michael Mussa; 13. Countries in payments' difficulties: what can the IMF do? Andrew Powell; 14. Accountability, governance and the reform of the IMF Ngaire Woods; 15. The IMF at the start of the twenty-first century: what has been learned? On which values can we establish a humanised globalisation? Michel Camdessus; Index.

It analyses the Asian and Argentine financial crises of the late 1990s, issues of policy ownership, the more general quest for financial stability and governance of the IMF. It is an essential reference for anyone interested in the role of international financial institutions in our globalised economy.

David Vines is a Fellow in Economics at Balliol College Oxford, Adjunct Professor of Economics at the Australian National University, and a Research Fellow of CEPR. He is co-editor of The World Bank: Structure and Policies (CUP, 2000).
Christopher Gilbert is Professor of Finance in the Department of Finance at the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, and a Fellow of the Tinbergen Institute. He is co-editor of The World Bank: Structure and Policies (CUP, 2000).