The IMF—A success story?

Is the International Monetary Fund (IMF) the mainstay of the international monetary system? Or is it an insignificant sideshow? Might its actions, or its very existence, even be harmful? The fortieth anniversary of the Bretton Woods Agreement, which was signed by 44 states on 22 July 1944, affords an opportunity to assess the activities of the Fund and to outline its possible contribution to coping with future tasks in the world economy.     

No solution for international monetary problems

At its 14th meeting (in Hamburg) the Interim Committee of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) held further discussions on the establishment of a substitution account through which the monetary authorities would voluntarily transfer a part of their dollar reserves¹ to the IMF in return for interest-bearing claims denominated in Special Drawing Rights (SDR)². The transferred dollars would be invested by the Fund long-term³ in US Government securities so that they would be withdrawn from international circulation. As was to be expected, the meeting did not yet bring an accord. Technical difficulties were stated to be the reason for this but at this juncture no state seems to be especially interested in setting up such an account.     

International raw material policy in the agricultural and industrial sphere

The demands in the sphere of raw material policy are a cardinal element of the “New International Economic Order” on which the developing countries are insisting. Dr Hermes, Secretary of State in the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany, discusses the Common Fund and other issues concerning raw material policy from the German point of view.     

Stabilisation and Structural Adjustment in Developing Countries

Abstract

This paper analyses and compares World Bank structural adjustment programmes and International Monetary Fund (IMF) stabilisation programmes in Malawi during the 1980s and Jordan during the 1990s. Both are small aid-dependant economies with a narrow export base making them vulnerable to exogenous shocks. The article pays particular attention to the political economy environment in which reform programmes are implemented and to the role of exogenous shocks, both adverse and favourable, in determining the outcome of the programmes. The sequencing of reforms is also assessed in both countries.     

Dollar overhang and development assistance

Although according to the media, the theme for last fall’s meeting of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group was all “sweetness and light”, the February dollar crisis demonstrated the instability of the international monetary system. Now is the time for technicians to do the difficult task to work out the basic reform principles — giving dates, amounts, and other specifics.     

Wrong-footing MNCs and local manufacturing: Zambia''s 1992–1994 structural adjustment program

It is now more than five years since the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) came to power after the October 1991 World Bank and IMF “political conditionality” induced democratic elections in Zambia. Under World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) tutelage, the MMD government embarked upon the most far-reaching market-led economic reforms ever seen in Zambia, under the Structural Adjustment Program (SAP). Using evidence from 43 companies and representatives of Zambian industry, this paper argues that the SAP (as implemented) has wrong-footed the manufacturing sector. The paper apportions the bulk of the blame squarely on the shoulders of the Zambian government, for the unrealistic policies and manner in which it has implemented the Neoclassical Counterrevolution Model, also known as market-based SAP reforms.     

Normative contexts and moral decision

This paper attempts to explain the significance of the ‘ideologies’ — or ‘middle-level’ normative discourse — described by Kenneth Goodpaster in his paper ‘Business Ethics, Ideology, and the Naturalistic Fallacy’. It is argued that the propositions constitutive of this discourse are not invokable moral principles (i.e. principles which generate solutions to actual moral problems). Rather, they are characterizations of the normative contexts in which moral decisions are made. As such, they place limits on the ways in which the abstract moral principles of traditional moral theory may be applied or interpreted in making real-life moral decisions.     

The role of multinationals in the NIEO

In the context of the New International Economic Order (NIEO) the developing countries are expressing more and more frequently a wish for stricter control over the multinational enterprises. What should be the features of a Code of Conduct for Multinationals?     

UN development strategy for the eighties

The recently held 11th Special Session of the UN General Assembly reached agreement on an international strategy for the Third Development Decade which is to be formally passed by the current 35th General Assembly. In the discussion it became obvious that the developing countries’ interest still focusses on a New International Economic Order. There are however grave doubts about the possibility of reaching, by institutional reforms, a real solution for the development problems to be faced in this decade.     

SRI LANKA'S EXPERIMENT WITH DEVALUATION: VAR and ECM Analysis of the Exchange Rate Effects on Trade Balance and GDP

The objective of this study is to empirically analyze the impact of the devaluation of the Sri Lankan currency (rupee) on Sri Lankan trade balance and gross domestic product. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have been promoting devaluation as a policy tool for economic growth and stability in LDCs. However, there is substantial research supporting the “J-Curve” effect and contractionary effects on economies due to devaluation, especially for less developed countries (LDCs). The results show a contractionary impact on the Sri Lankan output.     

Making sure of survival

Early in 1980—well before the Special Session of the UN General Assembly in New York—the Independent Commission for International Development Issues chaired by Willy Brandt presented its Report: “North-South: A Programme for Survival”. The findings of the Commission which is better known as “North-South Commission” or “Brandt Commission” have met with agreement and approval but also with criticism. Which recommendations has the Commission made? Which points of the Report are being criticised?     

A new departure in international commodities policies?

In the course of the last United Nations' World Trade Conference (UNCTAD) the Soviet Union, Ivory Coast and Bulgaria signed the agreement on the Common Fund for Commodities. The Fund, which was conceived as the cornerstone of a new international commodities policy, will thus come into effect in the near future, probably in the course of 1988. Will this leadt o a new departure for international commodities policies?     

IMF conditionality: The wrong party pays the bill

Countries in acute payments difficulties generally seek the support of the International Monetary Fund. IMF credits are granted subject to compliance with economic conditions that have repeatedly given cause for criticism. The two articles that follow, by Jörn Altmann and Joachim Betz, examine the Fund’s policy of conditionality.     

IMF‐Supported Programmes: Stimulating Capital to Non‐defaulting Countries

International Monetary Fund (IMF)‐supported programmes catalyse private capital to non‐defaulting countries. We find the IMF to be effective in stimulating private capital flows to middle‐income countries that participate in a Fund programme, but do not restructure their debt. IMF‐supported programmes help non‐defaulting countries to signal their willingness to reform and repay debts, thereby catalysing private capital. This signalling role appears to be more important for Fund catalysis, than the size of IMF lending.     

Collective Self-Reliance: Concept and reality

The concept of Collective Self-Reliance (CSR) has been of increasing political importance since the early seventies in the North-South negotiations and also at the South-South conferences (of non-aligned and Group of 77 countries), especially in connection with the discussions on a New International Economic Order (NIEO). Development researchers in poor and rich countries have at the same time begun to pay more attention to the concept of Self-Reliance (SR) in both its individual and its collective dimension. The concept of Collective Self-Reliance is examined in the following article as are its chances of realization.     

Critical analysis of the Barre-Plan

The Commission of the European Communities, in the spring of 1970, accepted “A Plan for the Phases Establishment of An Economic and Monetary Union”, based on the Barre-Memorandum of February 12, 1969, prepared by M. R. Barre, himself a former Commission member. This article deals with the still unanswered questions which according to the author were raised.     

Discussion of the new economic world order

It is difficult to know what to make of the present discussion about a New International Economic Order although it is certainly lively enough. Few observers can be able to point out the various levels at which arguments are bandied. Hardly anybody can distinguish a clear pattern in the variety and diversity of assertion and counter-assertion, of proposal and counter-proposal. It is often not even known how comprehensive and far-reaching the demands for a New Order are in reality. It would therefore seem to be a sensible undertaking to try to trace the structure of the discussion and make it hereby more intelligible.     

For a Social Market Economy in North-South relations

The North-South dialogue on a New International Economic Order has reached deadlock. To revive it Prof. Sautter is counseling an offensive application of the basic principle of the Social Market Economy to the global economic relations between industrialised and developing countries.     

Transnational corporations and International Economic Order

The demand for control over transnational corporations forms part of the demands for a New International Economic Order. The statements about the question of effective means of control are however so far vague and in the context of the demands for a New Economic Order even contradictory. Until now it has been impossible to evolve the essential requisites of a strategy of comprehensive control. Some of the reasons for this failure are set out in the following article which analyses the chances for the prosecution of such a strategy.     

What Impact of the Financial Crisis has on the Exhibition Industry？

Ever since outbreak of the current financial crisis in September 2008, economies in world＇s major countries and regions have been dealt with a heavy blow. According to the forecast made by the International Labor Orga-nization （ILO）, total number of the unemployed in the world shall increase to 210 million with the unemployment rate rising by 6.5% to 7.1%. All these forebode a rather gloomy prospect for employment worldwide.