Proposals for Changing the Functions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)

The fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Articles of Agreement of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank was celebrated at meetings in Washington, DC; at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire; and at the Annual Meeting of the Boards of Governors of the two institutions held in Madrid. As ones of the few survivors who participated in the 1944 Bretton Woods conference, I was privileged to attend the first two commemorations (Mikesell, 1994). The many addresses at the 1994 meetings praising the contributions of the Fund and Bank were overshadowed by the widely-held conviction that both institutions are seriously in need of overhauling. However, there is no consensus on how they should be changed. Some believe that one or both have outlived their usefulness and should be abolished, while others believe the institutions should continue to operate as in the past, but with new responsibilities and enhanced resources. This working paper is mainly concerned with proposals for major changes in the fund.