Introduction: A New Architecture or New System? A Survey of International Monetary Reform in the 1990s

The international monetary system (IMS) is a macroeconomic concept that encompasses the foreign exchange-rate regulation, the capital movement system, and all “the rules of the game” for the adjustment of international payment imbalances. The international financial architecture (IFA) is, in contrast, a microeconomic concept and should not be considered synonymous with the IMS. The IFA is one element of the IMS. The current set of international monetary arrangements has been frequently called a “nonsystem.” Today there are two missing pillars in the reform efforts: a framework for managing the interdependence among the macroeconomic policies of the global powers (the United States, Europe, and Japan) and the market-oriented approach to the financing of the IMF.