Bretton Woods Non-Commission

 

Posts Tagged: IMF

 

Progress on The “Global Deal”: International Cooperation Works

May 7, 2009

Posted by in Double Majorities at the World Bank and IMF—for Legitimacy and Effectiveness, Governance of the Bretton Woods Sisters: Making Progress on the Agenda, Uncategorized Tags: , ,

This is a joint posting with Johannes F. Linn.

With a little distance from the hype of the two important global events of April—the G-20 London Summit and the spring meetings of the IMF and World Bank—it is perhaps easier to judge how effective these jamborees have been in addressing the key challenges of the current financial and economic crisis. Our assessment is that a “global deal” has been struck and that it is one which deserves to be taken seriously. Read More…

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IMF Governance Reform Committee Report Leaves Much to the Imagination

April 6, 2009

Posted by in Double Majorities at the World Bank and IMF—for Legitimacy and Effectiveness, Governance of the Bretton Woods Sisters: Making Progress on the Agenda, Uncategorized Tags: , , , ,

Suddenly the IMF is very much in the news. The G-20 Summit agreed last week to large increases in resources to enable the Fund to respond to the global crisis. And the week before the IMF Board approved radical changes in access, pricing and conditionality for IMF borrowers, making IMF loans and insurance (precautionary loans immensely more attractive for countries like Brazil and Mexico. Already Mexico has come forward to request access to the new Flexible Credit Line. The new lending rules show that the IMF bureaucracy is finally beginning to respond effectively to reality of responsible macro management in many emerging market economies. Read More…

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Why Don’t the Bretton Woods Sisters Offer Risk Insurance? (Could Governance Be Part of the Problem?)

March 20, 2009

Posted by in Governance of the Bretton Woods Sisters: Making Progress on the Agenda Tags: , , , ,

Why have the IMF and the World Bank been so backward on risk management products — an issue Guillermo Perry explores in a forthcoming CGD book? What is it about their governance, mandate, instruments and/or human nature that leads them like horses to water to lending, even defensive lending, during good times, in effect inviting them, for lack of prior development of insurance and savings products, to “indulge” in a new round of lending in bad times? (Is it a coincidence that the same problem seems to plague microfinance initiatives — where, as David Roodman among others points out, credit eclipses savings and insurance programs by orders of magnitude?) Isn’t this asking countries to acquire more debt to build a new house to replace one that has burned down — when instead they should have had access to fire insurance? Isn’t it the lack of fire insurance that induces the self-insurance of reserve accumulation that has added to the global imbalance that is behind the current meltdown? Read More…

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Why a Bretton Woods Non-Commission?

March 12, 2009

Posted by in Remarks from the Chair Tags: , , , , , , , ,

I am pleased to announce the launch of the CGD’s Bretton Woods Non-Commission on Governance Reform of the IMF and the World Bank.  The possibility and the options for deep reform of these institutions are greater today than ever. Ironically, this is thanks to the oncoming global economic crisis, which has exposed the limits of their financing, legitimacy and relevance in the 21st century interconnected global economy.

The IMF and the World Bank have both announced new commissions to offer recommendations on how they can reform their embarrassingly outmoded mid-twentieth century governance. Both are led by experienced and capable individuals, the IMF commission by Trevor Manuel and the World Bank commission by Ernesto Zedillo.

The task of our Non-Commission is to help invigorate this process by providing fresh and perhaps even revolutionary ideas for changing how these important institutions are run—specifically who decides what they do and how they do it. Our Non-Commission will not meet; and our ideas will not be massaged into a consensus document.
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Back to the Future: The Reform of the Bretton Woods Institutions and the Harry White Method

March 10, 2009

Posted by in Back to the Future: The Reform of the Bretton Woods Institutions and the Harry White Method Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

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The term “good governance” has almost become a cliché. A Google search yields nearly 5.5 million entries. The IMF and the World Bank, while making good governance one of the key pillars in their operational strategy, and rightly so, have lagged behind in fully adopting those same principles when governing themselves. In an increasingly globalized world, where multilateral authority is measured by the yardsticks of legitimacy and accountability, these institutions can no longer put off a long-awaited reform.

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Governance of the Bretton Woods Sisters: Making Progress on the Agenda*

March 4, 2009

Posted by in Governance of the Bretton Woods Sisters: Making Progress on the Agenda Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

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The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank are intergovernmental institutions. They are political in every sense of that word, from their structure to their culture. They are owned and directed by their member governments. Governments are political by construction. Consequently, we in the private sector—in think tanks, in non-governmental organizations, or as private citizens—often are frustrated because these institutions are, and should be, principally responsible to governments and only through them to us, the interested and concerned general public, even in cases where the responsiveness of member governments leaves a great deal to be desired. Read More…

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Open Letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary-designate Geithner on IMF Reform

February 11, 2009

Posted by in IMF reform Tags: , , , ,

In this January 2009 letter, I joined with 14 other signatories in writing to then U.S. Treasury Secretary-designate Timothy Geithner applauding his answers to the Senate Finance Committee about the Obama administration’s position on IMF reform and urging the Obama administration to revisit the IMF reforms submitted to Congress in November 2008 in advance of the meeting of G-20 heads of government in London on April 2.

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