Recent crises have cast doubt on the legitimacy of technocratic power, yet its role in global economic governance remains poorly understood. Revisiting the collapse of Bretton Woods, we propose a dynamic theory of global monetary governance to explain how expanding central bank discretion can...

Robert Triffin (1911-1993) was one of the main protagonists in the international monetary debates in the postwar period. He became famous with his book Gold and the Dollar Crisis, published in 1960, in which he predicted the end of the Bretton Woods system. In his analysis there, Triffin was...

The international financial architecture is misaligned with the goals set out in the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris climate agreement. External financing flows to emerging-market and developing countries (excluding China) need be increasing by at least US$1 trillion annually from...

An early analysis of the imperialist implications of the surge of global commodity prices was conducted in 2014 by Jonathan Nitzan and Shimshon Bichler. However, their analysis did not consider how the US monetary and fiscal expansionist policies have contributed to the rise of global commodity...

A recent contribution to the literature argues that the present international monetary system in many ways operates like the Bretton-Woods system. Asia is the new periphery of the system and pursues an export-led development strategy based on undervalued exchange rates and accumulated foreign...

Global South countries face significant challenges to finance sustainable and just transformation. These challenges stem partly from the hierarchical character of the current international monetary system, which requires Global South countries to obtain U.S. dollars to finance the imports...

The relationship between the Bretton Woods institutions and Africa began in the 1980s as a result of the international debt crisis which affected the African continent negatively. The African continent approached the Bretton Woods institutions to salvage its economic situation. Consequently, the...

This paper presents an overview of the Bretton Woods experience. From an historical perspective. I analyze its performance relative to other international monetary regimes. its origins. its operation. its problems and its demise. In the survey I emphasize both issues deemed important at the time...

This paper assesses the evolution of thinking, analysis, and discourse about inequality in the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund since their inception in 1944, on the basis of bibliometric analysis, a reading of the literature, and personal experience. Whereas the Fund was largely...

Die Idee, dass US-amerikanische Macht internationale Sicherheit schafft, ist in der politischen Elite der USA bis heute tief verankert. Sie liegt letztendlich auch den von den USA geführten Bündnissen, einschließlich der Nato, zugrunde. Doch tatsächlich erodieren die drei Säulen der Pax...

This paper addresses the following problem: how debt chains sewed through government bonds are operated under either full commitment or limited commitment of the valuation of the debt by bond issuing countries. This paper takes the debt relationship of the US, China and Russia as an example to...

This article examines the global economic shift away from US dollar dominance, focusing on the rise of the Chinese yuan and de-dollarization efforts, particularly by Russia and BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa). The study explores the dollar's dominance since World...

This paper challenges the prevailing view in the sovereign debt literature by arguing that sovereign debt markets, in many respects, behave similarly to other credit markets. These markets are hierarchical rather than flat, inherently hybrid in nature, blending elements of public order and...

The literature on international transfers has studied the possibility of transfer paradoxes; the donor gains and the recipient loses from a transfer. This can occur in a wide range of circumstances, including perfect competition and the absence of distortions. The literature, however, largely...

This 23rd annual review of the international role of the euro presents an overview of developments in the use of the euro by non-euro area residents in 2023. This was a year that saw continuing geopolitical tensions, increases in policy interest rates and inflation declining from high levels in...

This 23rd annual review of the international role of the euro presents an overview of developments in the use of the euro by non-euro area residents in 2023. This was a year that saw continuing geopolitical tensions, increases in policy interest rates and inflation declining from high levels in...

The inquiry into the global significance of the euro, which is the second most important currency in the international financial system after the US dollar (hereinafter, the dollar), should be treated as a priority in efforts to strengthen the EU’s strategic autonomy. The main obstacles...

The world is witnessing growing turbulence stemming from geopolitics and a tangible threat of economic disintegration. There are some indications of globalization in retreat, international trade growth slowing down and a transition from optimizing efficiency of global value chains towards...

Many developing countries are still grappling with the consequences of the pandemic and the associated high debt burdens while facing huge financing needs, inter alia related to climate change. In response, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) issued $650 billion in Special Drawing Rights...

This study examines the role of the Chinese renminbi (RMB) as an international anchor currency. After China abandoned its tight US dollar (USD) peg in 2005, the RMB found greater popularity as a reserve currency. This change in the RMB's role reflected China's growing presence in the global...

What explains the US dollar's role in the global economy and the tensions affecting its likely persistence? Most analyses start from Triffin's dilemma, which accurately captured specific but partial tensions of a global monetary system based on essentially fixed exchange rates, gold backing for...

Today all countries have fiat money issued by a central bank. There is no obligation by a central bank to exchange its money for gold or any other good. Central banks have the monopoly to issue central bank money and have the power to create their money out of nothing. Creating such a monetary...