Reforming the international financial system

Against the backdrop of the present crisis this Forum is dedicated to the discussion of measures to prevent future breakdowns of the global economy. Daniel Gros, Ulrich Klüh and Beatrice Weder di Mauro regard as the biggest flaw in the existing structures the lack of an institution that has the information, expertise and impartiality that would enable it to swiftly identify and frankly communicate emerging risks to the global financial system and the world economy. They present a proposal that aims at placing the IMF in a position to play this part. The paper by Philip Lane focuses on how reforms in the governance of the global financial system may alter the incentives facing those emerging market economies that have opted to run large and globally inefficient current account surpluses as insurance against the risks of disruptions in capital flows to these economies.