A Critique of the Cooper Report on the Adequacy of the IMF Quota Formulas

At the request of the Managing Director of the IMF, a group of experts, chaired by Professor Richard Cooper of Harvard University prepared a report on the adequacy of quota formulas, including proposals for changes. The paper reviews the recommendations of the Quota Formula Review Group and finds that the Report failed to address such key issues as the size of the Fund or overall adequacy of quotas, and the question of basic votes and the distribution of voting power. It questions the reasons for the rejection of PPP-based GDP in the proposed formula for quota determination and considers that this introduces a bias against developing countries; the exclusion of short-term capital movements in the measurement of countries external vulnerability also appears questionable