Instability has become global and systemic. Strengthening international institutions and arrangements would reduce the threat of crises and allow those that do occur to be better managed. These proposals take the developing world into account.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram is assistant secretary general for economic development at the United Nations and research coordinator for the G24 Intergovernmental Group on International Monetary Affairs and Development. In 2007 he was awarded the Wassily Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought. --Book Jacket.

This article evaluates the prospects for meaningful reform of the global financial architecture. It begins by looking at the most significant problems with the current architecture. Thereafter it classifies the current reform efforts into three areas -- reforms that in fact have been implemented, reforms that have been proposed but not yet implemented, and reforms that are only under discussion. The paper then evaluates the adequacy of these reform efforts and makes some brief proposals for future reform efforts.

A report prepared for the 1999 Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting, discussing the reform of international financial architecture. It argues that contemporary crises are very different from traditional balance of payments problems, and that developing countries are especially vulnerable. Six areas of discussion have been identified, some well known, others involving new initiatives. The report also identifies issues in the area of crisis resolution. It looks at the role of the Fund; incentives for the private sector; measures to deal with imprudent creditors and the design of adjustment programmes. It concludes by proposing a new governance structure.

Introduction The international financial crises of the 1990s and early years of the 21st century initiated the beginnings of reform to the global financial system. [...] Drawing on the relevant precedents both in the developed and developing world, as well as the shortcomings of the current system for developing countries, the paper addresses the following questions. [...] However, the principle of maintaining an African voting majority in the Bank (and parity in the Fund) persisted, although in the case of the Bank the African majority has subsequently drifted down through successive capital replenishment negotiations, at the insistence of the non-regional members (English and Mule, 1996). [...] And the AfDB, analogously to its counterpart in the Americas, is centrally involved with the OAU and UNECA in pan-African cooperation initiatives such as the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) and the creation of the African Union (Devlin and Castro 2002:27). [...] However, the mandate of the African Development Bank Group covers the whole continent, including the countries of North Africa and the Republic of South Africa.

In 2007-2008 the global financial and economic system was in turmoil. This volume focuses on how the global financial architecture was redesigned following the financial crash of 2008. Its central claim is that the reforms constituted a paradigm shift, a move from the dominance of market authority to the re-assertion of state authority over financial markets and actors. The book underscores that the cycle of boom and bust, of crisis response, reform and eventual relapse are not only economic but also conceptual and ideological. Ideas matter in the political and economic calculus of policy making. Economies are underpinned by and linked to ideological narrative, a prevailing policy consensus that places limits on policy actions and options and constitutes a dominant worldview or paradigm. To become real, to be lasting, to impact actual policy choices and market actor decisions, a re-regulatory paradigm shift cannot just be conceptual or ideological. It must also be present in the institutional constructs and policy decisions that flow from the ideological regulatory shift. To gauge the fluctuating strength of the paradigm shift the book addresses the G20 summit process, the creation of the FSB, the policy output of the new forums, for signs of permanency, strength, and possible effectiveness. This work presents important new material on the financial crisis and the regulatory response to it, which will be valuable for researchers, teachers and students alike.

After an introduction on inconsistency in the international financial system, section 2 of this paper focusses on the role of financial markets in emerging economies and on the lessons from recent crises. It seeks to explain why, under current international financial arrangements, both borrowers in emerging markets and lenders in industrial countries have had a strong incentive to resort to government guarantees as a way of encouraging capital flows. It then considers how such behaviour worked to increase the moral hazard inherent in the system. Section 3 sets out broad outlines of proposals for a comprehensive, market-based approach to reform of the international financial architecture. It lays out several broad avenues for change in emerging-market countries: financial sector strengthening, improvements in macroeconomic policy implementation, associated changes in exchange rate regimes & monetary policy targets, and a consistent program of financial market deepening & capital account liberalization. It also considers the role that governments & private-sector lenders in industrial countries can play in strengthening the international financial system and in mitigating the effects of crises. Section 4 discusses a set of reforms for the International Monetary Fund & other international financial institutions that would reinforce the proposals in section 3. It also discusses how possible changes in arrangements for private-sector involvement in the prevention & resolution of financial crises fits into a comprehensive market-based approach to reform of the international financial architecture. The final section summarizes the main conclusions.