Reshaping the International Monetary Architecture and Addressing Global Imbalances: Lessons from the Keynes Plan

Piffaretti, Nadia F. (2008): Reshaping the International Monetary Architecture and Addressing Global Imbalances: Lessons from the Keynes Plan.

Abstract

As we witness profound changes in the global economy, and as it becomes apparent that the so-called “Revived Bretton Woods System” may be nothing more than a temporary non sustainable financing of the US structural internal imbalance, favored by the global role of the dollar, which has increased the overall vulnerability of the global financial architecture, it’s worth revisiting the origins of the Bretton Woods conference, and pointing out the relevance for today’s framework of Keynes’ original 1942 plan for an International Clearing Union. In this note we explore the main characteristics of Keynes’ original plan, by revisiting his original writings between 1940 and 1944, and we outline its relevance to the current debate on the international financial architecture, We’ll argue that reforms of the international financial architecture should include anchoring the international monetary system on a sounder institutional ground.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: International Financial Architecture; Bretton Woods Institutions; Keynes Plan; International Currency; Global Imbalances
• Subjects: E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E1 - General Aggregative Models > E12 - Keynes ; Keynesian ; Post-Keynesian; E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E5 - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit > E58 - Central Banks and Their Policies; F - International Economics > F0 - General > F02 - International Economic Order and Integration; N - Economic History > N2 - Financial Markets and Institutions > N20 - General, International, or Comparative; E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E5 - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit > E50 - General; E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E0 - General > E00 - General; E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E4 - Money and Interest Rates > E44 - Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy; F - International Economics > F3 - International Finance > F33 - International Monetary Arrangements and Institutions

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