Considerations on the Role of the SDR


Book Description

This paper explores whether a broader role for the SDR could contribute to the smooth functioning and stability of the international monetary system (IMS). Recent staff assessments highlighted that the IMS has displayed considerable resilience. But episodes of stress point also to some weaknesses, including in external adjustment mechanisms; limitations of official liquidity provisions through the Global Financial Safety Net (GFSN); and large-scale reserve accumulation—with systemic side effects. Those weaknesses, together with the expansion of the SDR basket, have renewed interest in the SDR and motivated a discussion of whether there is an economic rationale for a broader SDR role. The paper looks into how those weaknesses can be mitigated by three concepts of the SDR: the official SDR, the reserve asset administered by the IMF (O-SDR); SDR-denominated financial instruments, or “market SDRs” (M-SDR); and the SDR as a unit of account (U-SDR). However, the paper does not propose specific reform options.




The Future of the SDR in Light of Changes in the International Monetary System


Book Description

This book edited by Michael Mussa, James M. Boughton, and Peter Isard, records the proceedings of a seminar held at the IMF in March 1996 on the future of the special drawing right (SDR), given changes in the international monetary system since the inception of the SDR. The seminar focuses on the differences in opinion in the international community on the desirability or feasibility of an additional allocation of SDRs.




Enhancing International Monetary Stability--A Role for the SDR?


Book Description

The SDR has enjoyed renewed attention lately in the context of debates on international monetary reform. To be sure, the term SDR has been used to refer to three different concepts—(i) a composite reserve asset created in 1969: the “official SDR” as defined in the Fund’s Articles; (ii) a potential new class of reserve assets: tradable SDRdenominated securities issued by the Fund or an investment vehicle backed by a subset of the Fund’s membership; and (iii) a unit of account, which could be used to price internationally traded assets (e.g., sovereign bonds) and goods (e.g., commodities), to peg currencies, and to report balance of payments data. All three are discussed in this paper.




Considerations on the Role of the SDR


Book Description

This paper explores whether a broader role for the SDR could contribute to the smooth functioning and stability of the international monetary system (IMS). Recent staff assessments highlighted that the IMS has displayed considerable resilience. But episodes of stress point also to some weaknesses, including in external adjustment mechanisms; limitations of official liquidity provisions through the Global Financial Safety Net (GFSN); and large-scale reserve accumulation-with systemic side effects. Those weaknesses, together with the expansion of the SDR basket, have renewed interest in the SDR and motivated a discussion of whether there is an economic rationale for a broader SDR role. The paper looks into how those weaknesses can be mitigated by three concepts of the SDR: the official SDR, the reserve asset administered by the IMF (O-SDR); SDR-denominated financial instruments, or 'market SDRs' (M-SDR); and the SDR as a unit of account (U-SDR). However, the paper does not propose specific reform options.







The New Architecture of the International Monetary System


Book Description

Two years ago, the Guido Carli Association, in collaboration with the Aspen Institute Italia, charged a group of distinguished economists to examine the problems created by the unsatisfactory functioning of the International Monetary System. The two resulting conferences were sponsored by the Fondazione della Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze (CESIFIN) and the Permanent Advisory Committee on the Euro and the Dollar (PACE&D). Their research had a two-fold aim. The first was an examination of the basic function of the International Monetary System with a special focus on the role the Euro would and should have. The second was the preparation of a list of recommendations on how to resolve the problems, financial problems in particular, affecting the entire world community. Last year, the group focused on efforts taking place in diverse financial institutions and universities to construct what has been called the `New International Financial Architecture'. This group considered the legal problems arising from European and international integration and, more generally, from the new architecture of the International Monetary System. This book, The New Architecture of the International Monetary System, is the final result of their efforts. It will be an invaluable resource for academics, professionals, and students alike.







The "Hard" SDR


Book Description

There has been considerable interest in recent years in the possibility of hardening the SDR, motivated by the desire for an international yardstick of monetary stability. This paper explores various ideas aimed at hardening the SDR in the light of the previous debate on the valuation of the SDR. The paper shows that the construction and implementation of a “hard” SDR which would preserve its purchasing power over goods and services is technically feasible and illustrates this by monthly computations covering the period from July 1974 to July 1993.




Resetting the International Monetary (Non)System


Book Description

This volume provides an analysis of the global monetary system and proposes a comprehensive yet evolutionary reform of the system aimed at creating better monetary cooperation for the twenty-first century.