The IMF and the force of History

The IMF and the force of History
Author: Mr.James M. Boughton
Publisher: INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND
Total Pages: 25
Release: 2004-05-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9781451849769

The International Monetary Fund was designed during World War II by men whose worldview had been shaped by the Great War and the Great Depression. Their views on how the postwar international monetary system should function were also shaped by their economics training and their nationalities. After the IMF began functioning as an institution, its evolution was similarly driven by a combination of political events (Suez, African independence, the collapse of global communism), economic events (the rising economic power of Europe, the Middle East, and Asia), and trends and cycles in economic theory (the monetary approach to the balance of payments, new classical economics, the rise and fall of the Washington Consensus). As they happened, these forces had effects that were perceived as adaptations to current events and new ideas within a fixed institutional structure and mandate. The cumulative effect of history on the institution has been rather more profound and requires a longer and larger perspective.

IMF and the Force of History

IMF and the Force of History
Author: Mr.James M. Boughton
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 44
Release: 2014-07-14
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1498306837

The world and the IMF have undergone profound changes since the Bretton Woods Conference. James Boughton, former historian of the IMF, looks at key events that have shaped the IMF and the international scene. From the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 to the Great Recession, this essay focuses on 11 events in history that have influenced the design and work of the IMF, as well as the international monetary system. This booklet, prepared for the 70th anniversary of the IMF, is an excerpt from a longer essay that is available on the IMF eLibrary. It is an excellent primer on the motivation behind the founding of the IMF and the evolution of the organization.

Tearing Down Walls

Tearing Down Walls
Author: Mr.James M. Boughton
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 1036
Release: 2012-03-05
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1616350849

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.

IMF and the Force of History

IMF and the Force of History
Author: Mr.James M. Boughton
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 44
Release: 2014-07-14
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 149831919X

The world and the IMF have undergone profound changes since the Bretton Woods Conference. James Boughton, former historian of the IMF, looks at key events that have shaped the IMF and the international scene. From the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 to the Great Recession, this essay focuses on 11 events in history that have influenced the design and work of the IMF, as well as the international monetary system. This booklet, prepared for the 70th anniversary of the IMF, is an excerpt from a longer essay that is available on the IMF eLibrary. It is an excellent primer on the motivation behind the founding of the IMF and the evolution of the organization.

History of the IMF

History of the IMF
Author: Kazuhiko Yago
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 338
Release: 2015-06-10
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 4431553517

This book describes the history of the IMF from its birth, through the Bretton Woods era, and in the aftermath. Special attention is paid to integrating IMF history with the macro-economic policies of member countries and of other international institutions as well. This collection of work presents a clear understanding, inter alia, of the influence of the United States over IMF policy via the National Advisory Committee; the dealings of the IMF with the UK on pound sterling policy; the institutional change of the IMF brought about by Per Jacobsson, the third managing director; and France, Italy, Germany, Canada, and Japan vis-à-vis IMF consultations. It also provides the reader with topics concerning the bankers’ acceptance market function and international liquidity issues in relation to IMF policy; the final chapter sheds light on the long-standing relations between the IMF and China, from the Bretton Woods Agreement to the contemporary period. All the chapters are archive-based academic studies providing deep insights with historical background, which makes this book the first thoroughly independent achievement in the field of IMF history. This book is highly recommended to readers interested in contemporary monetary and financial history and those who seek to obtain a coherent image of postwar international institutions and markets.

The Battle of Bretton Woods

The Battle of Bretton Woods
Author: Benn Steil
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 480
Release: 2013-02-24
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0691149097

Recounts the events of the Bretton Woods accords, presents portaits of the two men at the center of the drama, and reveals Harry White's admiration for Soviet economic planning and communications with intelligence officers.

The IMF and the Silent Revolution

The IMF and the Silent Revolution
Author: Mr.James M. Boughton
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 68
Release: 2000-09-11
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9781557759702

This pamphlet is adapted from Chapter 1 of Silent Revolution: The International Monetary Fund, 1979-89, by the same author. That book is full of history of the evolution of the Fund during 11 years in which the institution truly came of age as a participant in the international financial system.

Pillaging the World

Pillaging the World
Author: Ernst Wolff
Publisher:
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2014-10-22
Genre:
ISBN: 9783828834385

Depriving entire generations of their hopes for a better future, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has risen to become the world's most powerful international financial organization. Blackmailing countries and pillaging whole continents for almost seven decades now, its history resembles a modern-day crusade against the working people on five continents. In his highly compelling account, journalist Ernst Wolff specifies the dramatic consequences of the IMF's practice of loan sharking and implementing neoliberal austerity measures. While exacerbating poverty, increasing hunger, furthering the spread of diseases and fuelling armed conflicts on the one hand, the Fund's policies have on the other hand helped a tiny group of ultra-rich profiteers increase their vast fortunes to immeasurable dimensions - allegedly in the name of ensuring the stability of the global financial system. // Ernst Wolff, born in 1950, spent his early childhood in South East Asia, went to school in Germany and studied history and philosophy in the US. He has worked in various professions, including journalism, translating and screenwriting. The interrelation between economics and politics, a subject he has been working on for four decades, has become of paramount significance to him. "The financial crisis of 2008 and the euro crisis were mere precursors of an impending financial tsunami whose destructive power the IMF and its allies will most certainly use as a pretext for globally imposing measures the likes of which we cannot even vaguely imagine at present."

IMF History Volume 2 (1945-1965)

IMF History Volume 2 (1945-1965)
Author: International Monetary Fund
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 652
Release: 1996-02-29
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1451962924

This paper discusses the history of the first 20 years of the IMF. It attempts to recount objectively what were its origins and what have been its plans and activities. The paper contains a chronological account of the evolution of the IMF from the original plans formulated in 1941 to the end of 1965, with a supplementary chapter summarizing subsequent events. It analyzes the IMF’s policies in three major fields and reviews its constitutional development.

IMF History Volume 3 (1945-1965)

IMF History Volume 3 (1945-1965)
Author: International Monetary Fund
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 572
Release: 1996-02-29
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1451972512

This paper comprises documents relating to the history of the IMF, including some that preceded the drafting of the Articles of Agreement. The paper highlights that the first draft of Lord Keynes’ plan for a Clearing Union was circulated within the British Treasury on September 8, 1941. A fourth draft was given to Ministers on February 11, 1942. The first definitive version of Mr. White’s plan for a stabilization fund was a mimeographed draft dated April 1942. This covered both the IMF and the World Bank.