
:''This page is about the International Monetary Fund; IMF can also mean the International Metalworkers' Federation, a global union federation.'' The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is the international organization entrusted with overseeing the global financial system by monitoring foreign exchange rates and balance of payments, as well as offering technical and financial assistance when asked. == Organization and Purpose == The IMF describes itself as: "an organization of 184 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty". Of all UN member states only North Korea, Cuba, Liechtenstein, Andorra, Monaco, Tuvalu and Nauru are either integrated and represented by other member states or choose not to participate. == History == Agreement for its creation came at the United Nations-sponsored Bretton Woods Conference in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, United States, on July 22, 1944. The principal architects of the IMF at the Bretton Woods Conference were Fabian Society member John Maynard Keynes and the Assistant Secretary of the United States Treasury, Harry Dexter White. The [http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/aa/index.htm Articles of Agreement] came into force on December 27, 1945, the organization came into existence in May 1946, as part of a post-World War II reconstruction plan, and it began financial operations on March 1, 1947. It is sometimes referred to as "a Bretton Woods institution", along with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and the World Bank. Together, these three institutions define the monetary policy shared by almost all countries with market economies. == Membership Qualifications == A country may apply for membership status within the IMF. The application will be considered, first, by the IMF's Executive Board. After its consideration, the Executive Board will submit a report to the Board of Governors of the IMF with recommendations in the form of a "Membership Resolution." These recommendations cover the amount of quota in the IMF, the form of payment of the [http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/aa/aa03.htm#1 subscription], and other customary terms and conditions of membership. After the Board of Governors has adopted the "Membership Resolution," the applicant state needs to take the legal steps required under its own law to enable it to sign the IMF's Articles of Agreement and to fulfill the obligations of IMF membership. A member's quota in the IMF determines the amount of its subscription, its voting weight, its access to IMF financing, and its allocation of Special Drawing Rightss. == Assistance and Reforms == Part of its mission has become to provide assistance to countries that experience serious economic difficulties. Member states with balance of payments problems may request assistance in the form of loans and/or organizational management of their national economies. In return, the countries are obliged to launch certain structural adjustment program, an example of which is the "Washington Consensus". ==Critics and Criticism == The role of the three Bretton Woods institutions has been controversial to many since the late Cold War period. Critics claim that IMF policy makers deliberately supported capitalist military dictatorships friendly to American and European corporations. Critics also claim that the IMF is generally apathetic or hostile to their views of democracy, human rights, and labor rights. These criticisms generated a controversy that helped spark the anti-globalization movement. Others claim the IMF has little power to democratize sovereign states, nor is that its stated objective: to advise and promote financial stability. Arguments in favor of the IMF say that economic stability is a precursor to democracy. Two criticisms from economists have been that financial aid is always bound to so-called "Conditionalities", including Structural Adjustment Programs. Conditionalities, it is claimed, retard social stability and hence inhibit the stated goals of the IMF. Typically the IMF and its supporters advocate a Keynesian economics approach. As such, adherents of supply-side economics generally find themselves in open disagreement with the IMF. The IMF frequently advocates currency devaluation, criticized by proponents of supply-side economics as inflation. Secondly they link higher taxes under "austerity programmes" with economic contraction. Currency devaluation is recommended by the IMF to the governments of poor nations with struggling economies. Supply-side economists claim these Keynesian IMF policies are destructive to economic prosperity, although many other economists disagree. Complaints are also directed toward International Monetary Fund gold reserve being undervalued. At its inception in 1945, the IMF pegged gold at 35 dollars per troy ounce of gold. In 1973 the Nixon administration lifted the fixed asset value of gold in favour of a world market price. Hence the fixed exchange rates of currencies tied to gold were switched to a floating rate, also based on market price and exchange. This largely came about because of ''Petrodollars'' outside the United States, more than could be backed by the gold at Fort Knox under the fixed exchange rate system. The fixed rate system only served to limit the amount of assistance the organization could use to help debt-ridden countries. That said, the IMF sometimes advocates "austerity programmes," increasing tax even when the economy is weak, in order to generate government revenue and balance budget deficits, which is the opposite of Keynesian policy. Most Alter-globalization, like ATTAC, believe that IMF interventions aggravate the poverty and the debts of Third world and Developing nation. Opposition to the IMF can be very fragmented. For instance advocates of supply-side economics would in general regard the policies advocated by ATTAC to be little different in form to the ideas peddled by the IMF. In other words, they would see ATTAC ''tax-and-spend'' policies and the IMFs austerity policies as being fundamentally similar. Argentina, which had been considered by the IMF to be a model country in its compliance to policy proposals by the Bretton Woods institutions, experienced a catastrophic economic crisis in 2001, generally believed to have been caused by IMF-induced budget restrictions — which undercut the government's ability to sustain national infrastructure even in crucial areas such as health, education, and security — and privatization of strategically vital national resources. The crisis added to widespread hatred of this institution in Argentina and other South American countries, with many blaming the IMF for the region's economic problems [http://www.serendipity.li/hr/imf_and_dollar_system.htm]. The current — as of 2005 — trend towards moderate left-wing governments in the region and a growing concern with the development of a regional economic policy largely independent of big business pressures can be seen as a result, at least partially of this crisis. Another example of where IMF Structural Adjustment Programmes aggravated the problem was in Kenya. Before IMF got involved in the country, the Kenya central bank oversaw all currency movement in and out of the country. IMF mandated that Kenya central bank had to allow easier currency movement. However, the adjustment resulted in very little foreign investment, but allowed Kamlesh Manusuklal Damji Pattni, with the help of corrupt government officials, to syphon out billions of Kenya shillings in what came to be known as the Goldenberg scandal, leaving the country in a state worse than that which it was in before the IMF reforms were implemented. That the IMF intervenes only in countries that are already in dire financial straits has certainly hurt its reputation. The financial collapses it intervenes to help are the product of decades of mismanagement, but mismanagement that is often invisible to the outside world. These collapses tend to lead to years of economic difficulty, and since this period is often coextensive with IMF involvement in the economy it has in many cases quickly become associated with the malaise. Politicians have also long used the IMF as an easy target for blame when they themselves have erred, using nationalism and the poor public relations of the IMF to gain easy political points. Overall the IMF success record is limited. While it was created to help stabilize the global economy, since 1980 over 100 countries have experienced a banking collapse that reduced GDP by four percent or more -- far more than at any previous time in history. The considerable delay in IMF response to a crisis, and the fact that it tends to only respond to rather than prevent them, has led many economists to argue for reform. Whatever the feelings people in the Western world have for the IMF, research by the Pew Research Center shows that more than 60 percent of Asians and 70 percent of Africans feel that the IMF and the World Bank have a ''positive'' effect on their country [http://people-press.org/reports/pdf/185topline.pdf]. Such research has made proponents of IMF claim the IMF-critique misleading, as it would be difficult to speak of suffering if the sufferers don't feel hurt. The documentary Life and Debt deals with the IMF's policies' influence on Jamaica and its economy, from a critical point of view. == Past Managing Directors == An unwritten rule establishes that the IMF's managing director must be European and the president of the World Bank from United States. Bretton Woods Institutions * Economics * Bank for International Settlements * Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development * Special Drawing Rights * World Bank == External links == * [http://www.imf.org International Monetary Fund website] * How the IMF Props Up the Dollar System [http://www.serendipity.li/hr/imf_and_dollar_system.htm] *[http://web.gc.cuny.edu/eusc/activities/paper/schwartz.htm ''IMF’s Origins as a Blueprint for Its Future'', Anna J. Schwartz, National Bureau of Economic Research] == References == * * Dreher, Axel (2004), A Public Choice Perspective of IMF and World Bank Lending and Conditionality, ''Public Choice'' 119, 3-4: 445-464. *Dreher, Axel (2004), The Influence of IMF Programs on the Re-election of Debtor Governments, ''Economics & Politics'' 16, 1: 53-75 *Dreher, Axel (2003), The Influence of Elections on IMF Programme Interruptions, ''The Journal of Development Studies'' 39,6: 101-120. * ''The Best Democracy Money Can Buy'' by Greg Palast (2002) * The IMF and The World Bank: How do they differ?[http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/exrp/differ/differ.htm] by David D. Driscoll International organizationsInternational economics
1) The World Bank and the World Bank Group are not exactly the same. 2) The IMF is not part of the World Bank nor the World Bank Group. See http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTABOUTUS/0,,contentMDK%3A20046275~menuPK%3A48380~pagePK%3A43912~piPK%3A44037~theSitePK%3A29708,00.html == Bias == Quotes section and other areas seem to be overly biased against the IMF. == IMF is keynesianistic? == I just don't have the time or language skill or whatsoever to rework the article but want to make an addition: I thought the IMF favours supply-side economics and does not follow a keynesianistic approach. At least that is what I had kept in my mind after reading Joseph Stiglitz' ''Globalization and it's discontents'' (on german) where Stiglitz (former chief economist of the world bank) critisized the IMF as imposing a too restrictive policy on countries the IMF gives loans to. In general, I think it is safe to say that the IMF follows "neoliberal" strategies (e.g. of the washington consensus) and thus is affiliated with monetarism. And in my personal experience of economic policies neoliberalism and monetarism are strongly affiliated with supply-side economics. == Veto == I've read that US has sole veto power in IMF, can anyone confirm? User:Mir 01:49, 27 Jan 2005 (UTC) : Yeah, there is a link to an article of a guy who claim the same thing == General Arrangements to Borrow == Some day, when someone have time we need to explicitly include a couple of paragraphs of how the fund operates. ie use of General Arrangements to Borrow, Gold Reserve and Special Drawing Rights. A mention of the fact that members are represented by the country's finance minister would help. *I would be interested in working with wiki editors on clarifying how IMF operates on these discussion pages. Personally, I find the wiki method of trial/error, edit/delete cumbersome & tiring. Would be interested in hearing from administrators willing to help. Thnx User:Nobs == Keynesian IMF? == In answer to the Keynesian - neo-liberal debate above: The IMF was instituted in and operated as a short-term credit fund for exchange rate stabilization throughout the Keynesian Welfare State era of 1945 - ~1971. With the removal of the fixed exchange rate system in the early 70s - the orignal role for the IMF was largely defunct. As neo-liberalism took hold in the US and Western Europe through the 70s and 80s, the IMFs role effectively switched to a generic creditor - loaning funds to 'developing' nations on the condition that they restructured their economies in line with neo-liberal and classical economic ideology. Arguably there has been a qualification of this stance with the recent HIPC initiatives, but it is safe to conclude that the IMF remains a neo-liberal institution, much removed from its original mandate. :Tverbeek: Good edit. I agree.User:Nobs 20:37, 18 May 2005 (UTC) == link to wiktionary == I just added a link to wiktionary after the word 'overdraft' (way at the end) because I had to look it up. The reason is that the English version of wikipedia is of course not just for native English speakers (if only because (at the moment) it is the biggest version of wikipedia). I know there's also a simplified English version, but for people like me, who know English well enough to understand almost everything in normal English, that is of course not the preferred choice. I'd say that if I (or someone with my command of the English language) need to look up a word to understand the article, it deserves a link to wiktionary. Are there any rules on this? Also, I'm not sure I've made the link the right way. User:DirkvdM 08:07, 2005 Apr 11 (UTC) :I reformatted the link. In general, you can link to witkionary like this:Wiktionary:Overdraft . However, I'm not sure if there's a wiki policy on formatting links like that. Wiktionary:Overdraft renders as Wiktionary:Overdraft. I thought that was ugly, so I tried Wiktionary:Overdraft , which renders as Wiktionary:Overdraft. However, this version looks just like a wiki''pedia'' link, which isn't necessarily a good thing. Do we want wiki''pedia'' and wik''tionary'' links to look the same? That's why I settled on (Wiktionary:Overdraft) , which renders as (Wiktionary:Overdraft). I'm now going to find somewhere to post a question about the nature/formatting of interwiki links... b/c it there certainly needs to be a policy.User:Feco 08:36, 11 Apr 2005 (UTC)
::Ignore all of that above. The page now has the correct wikistyle for interwiki links. I should've looked a little harder before messing around with the styles above. See Wikipedia:How_to_link_to_Wikimedia_projects for more info. User:Feco
==IMF as a Lending Insitution==
The article as it is written repeatedly describes the IMF as an International lending instiution. While in recent years the IMF has gotten into the lending business in a limited way(only to assist debtor nations in managing their foreign debt), lending is not the IMF's primary function. Here are samples within the text where this assumption is made:
responsible for managing the global financial system and for providing loans
the World Bank, its twin organization
In order to gain access to IMF loans
IMF was instituted in and operated as a short-term credit fund
IMFs role effectively switched to a generic creditor - loaning funds to 'developing' nations
criticisms from economists have been that financial aid is always bound to so-called "Conditionalities"
limit the amount of money that the organization could use to help debt-ridden countries
IMF interventions aggravate the poverty and the debts
While it was created to help stabilize the global economy, since 1980 over 100 countries have experienced a banking collapse
There is much confusion about the difference between the IMF and its twin organisation the World Bank. On the large scale of things the IMF and World Bank play essentially the same role
Since the IMF is not really a bank, it doesn’t give loans as such. Rather, it has a pool of money from which member countries can borrow when they need to stabilise their currency quickly"
While much of this criticism is valid, there is little discussion of the IMF's purpose. The section header Criticism is very good, but it curiously mingles a discussion of monetarism and exchange rates with lending. Some separation of topics needs to be done.
I would be interested in working with editors to resolve some of the issues.--User:Nobs
== We really need this picture on the IMF page ==
I googled around for the picture the quote below refers to, but i am disappointed i wantn't lucky. I do however think collectively, we wikipedias can eventually find it. The quote is a word to word from Globalization and its Discontents page 40.
"All too often, the Fund's approach to the developing countries has had the feel of a colonial ruler. A picture is worth a thousand words, and a single picture snapped in 1998, shown thoughout the world, has engraved itself in the minds of millions, particularly those in the former colonies. The IMF managing director, Michel Camdessus, a short, neatly dressed former French treasury bureaucrat, who once claimed to be a socialist, is standing with a stern face and crossed arms over the seated and humiliated president of Indonesia. The hapless president was forced, in effect, to turn over economic sovereignty of his country to IMF in return for the aid his country needed. In the end ironically, much of the money went not to help Indonesia but to bail out the "colonial power's" private sector creditors.
Defenders of Camdessus claim the photograph was unfair, that he did not realise that it was being taken and that it was viewed out of context. But that is the point........."
You get the reason i think we need this picture. This book is way cool that i firmly believe it is the best value i have ever got from any book i have ever bought.
== Difference Between IMF and World Bank ==
Anon reverted this section & it's placed here for disccussion.
There is much confusion about the difference between the IMF and its sister organisation the World Bank. The IMF keeps account of trade balances between member states, basically who owes whom how much, as an independent auditor. The World Bank on the other hand, gives more long term loans for more general purposes. What it does, as an investment bank, is essentially to intermediate between lenders and borrowers. It sells bonds to corporations, individuals, and sometimes governments, and lends that money to borrowing governments.
The IMF was originally founded to stabilise countries’ currencies in relation to each other, and to oversee the currency exchange market. Since the IMF is not really a bank, it doesn’t give loans as such. Rather, it has a pool of money from which member countries can borrow when they need to stabilise their currency quickly. This can be compared with an overdraft (wikt:Overdraft) on a current account. All loans from the IMF must be paid back within 5 years.
See other meanings of words starting from letter:
Words begining with International_Monetary_Fund:
International_Monetary_Fund
International_Monetary_Fund
International_Monetary_Fund_gold_reserve
International_Monetary_Fund_gold_reserve
International Monetary Fund
:''This page is about the International Monetary Fund; IMF can also mean the International Metalworkers' Federation, a global union federation.'' The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is the international organization entrusted with overseeing the global financial system by monitoring foreign exchange rates and balance of payments, as well as offering technical and financial assistance when asked. == Organization and Purpose == The IMF describes itself as: "an organization of 184 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty". Of all UN member states only North Korea, Cuba, Liechtenstein, Andorra, Monaco, Tuvalu and Nauru are either integrated and represented by other member states or choose not to participate. == History == Agreement for its creation came at the United Nations-sponsored Bretton Woods Conference in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, United States, on July 22, 1944. The principal architects of the IMF at the Bretton Woods Conference were Fabian Society member John Maynard Keynes and the Assistant Secretary of the United States Treasury, Harry Dexter White. The [http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/aa/index.htm Articles of Agreement] came into force on December 27, 1945, the organization came into existence in May 1946, as part of a post-World War II reconstruction plan, and it began financial operations on March 1, 1947. It is sometimes referred to as "a Bretton Woods institution", along with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and the World Bank. Together, these three institutions define the monetary policy shared by almost all countries with market economies. == Membership Qualifications == A country may apply for membership status within the IMF. The application will be considered, first, by the IMF's Executive Board. After its consideration, the Executive Board will submit a report to the Board of Governors of the IMF with recommendations in the form of a "Membership Resolution." These recommendations cover the amount of quota in the IMF, the form of payment of the [http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/aa/aa03.htm#1 subscription], and other customary terms and conditions of membership. After the Board of Governors has adopted the "Membership Resolution," the applicant state needs to take the legal steps required under its own law to enable it to sign the IMF's Articles of Agreement and to fulfill the obligations of IMF membership. A member's quota in the IMF determines the amount of its subscription, its voting weight, its access to IMF financing, and its allocation of Special Drawing Rightss. == Assistance and Reforms == Part of its mission has become to provide assistance to countries that experience serious economic difficulties. Member states with balance of payments problems may request assistance in the form of loans and/or organizational management of their national economies. In return, the countries are obliged to launch certain structural adjustment program, an example of which is the "Washington Consensus". ==Critics and Criticism == The role of the three Bretton Woods institutions has been controversial to many since the late Cold War period. Critics claim that IMF policy makers deliberately supported capitalist military dictatorships friendly to American and European corporations. Critics also claim that the IMF is generally apathetic or hostile to their views of democracy, human rights, and labor rights. These criticisms generated a controversy that helped spark the anti-globalization movement. Others claim the IMF has little power to democratize sovereign states, nor is that its stated objective: to advise and promote financial stability. Arguments in favor of the IMF say that economic stability is a precursor to democracy. Two criticisms from economists have been that financial aid is always bound to so-called "Conditionalities", including Structural Adjustment Programs. Conditionalities, it is claimed, retard social stability and hence inhibit the stated goals of the IMF. Typically the IMF and its supporters advocate a Keynesian economics approach. As such, adherents of supply-side economics generally find themselves in open disagreement with the IMF. The IMF frequently advocates currency devaluation, criticized by proponents of supply-side economics as inflation. Secondly they link higher taxes under "austerity programmes" with economic contraction. Currency devaluation is recommended by the IMF to the governments of poor nations with struggling economies. Supply-side economists claim these Keynesian IMF policies are destructive to economic prosperity, although many other economists disagree. Complaints are also directed toward International Monetary Fund gold reserve being undervalued. At its inception in 1945, the IMF pegged gold at 35 dollars per troy ounce of gold. In 1973 the Nixon administration lifted the fixed asset value of gold in favour of a world market price. Hence the fixed exchange rates of currencies tied to gold were switched to a floating rate, also based on market price and exchange. This largely came about because of ''Petrodollars'' outside the United States, more than could be backed by the gold at Fort Knox under the fixed exchange rate system. The fixed rate system only served to limit the amount of assistance the organization could use to help debt-ridden countries. That said, the IMF sometimes advocates "austerity programmes," increasing tax even when the economy is weak, in order to generate government revenue and balance budget deficits, which is the opposite of Keynesian policy. Most Alter-globalization, like ATTAC, believe that IMF interventions aggravate the poverty and the debts of Third world and Developing nation. Opposition to the IMF can be very fragmented. For instance advocates of supply-side economics would in general regard the policies advocated by ATTAC to be little different in form to the ideas peddled by the IMF. In other words, they would see ATTAC ''tax-and-spend'' policies and the IMFs austerity policies as being fundamentally similar. Argentina, which had been considered by the IMF to be a model country in its compliance to policy proposals by the Bretton Woods institutions, experienced a catastrophic economic crisis in 2001, generally believed to have been caused by IMF-induced budget restrictions — which undercut the government's ability to sustain national infrastructure even in crucial areas such as health, education, and security — and privatization of strategically vital national resources. The crisis added to widespread hatred of this institution in Argentina and other South American countries, with many blaming the IMF for the region's economic problems [http://www.serendipity.li/hr/imf_and_dollar_system.htm]. The current — as of 2005 — trend towards moderate left-wing governments in the region and a growing concern with the development of a regional economic policy largely independent of big business pressures can be seen as a result, at least partially of this crisis. Another example of where IMF Structural Adjustment Programmes aggravated the problem was in Kenya. Before IMF got involved in the country, the Kenya central bank oversaw all currency movement in and out of the country. IMF mandated that Kenya central bank had to allow easier currency movement. However, the adjustment resulted in very little foreign investment, but allowed Kamlesh Manusuklal Damji Pattni, with the help of corrupt government officials, to syphon out billions of Kenya shillings in what came to be known as the Goldenberg scandal, leaving the country in a state worse than that which it was in before the IMF reforms were implemented. That the IMF intervenes only in countries that are already in dire financial straits has certainly hurt its reputation. The financial collapses it intervenes to help are the product of decades of mismanagement, but mismanagement that is often invisible to the outside world. These collapses tend to lead to years of economic difficulty, and since this period is often coextensive with IMF involvement in the economy it has in many cases quickly become associated with the malaise. Politicians have also long used the IMF as an easy target for blame when they themselves have erred, using nationalism and the poor public relations of the IMF to gain easy political points. Overall the IMF success record is limited. While it was created to help stabilize the global economy, since 1980 over 100 countries have experienced a banking collapse that reduced GDP by four percent or more -- far more than at any previous time in history. The considerable delay in IMF response to a crisis, and the fact that it tends to only respond to rather than prevent them, has led many economists to argue for reform. Whatever the feelings people in the Western world have for the IMF, research by the Pew Research Center shows that more than 60 percent of Asians and 70 percent of Africans feel that the IMF and the World Bank have a ''positive'' effect on their country [http://people-press.org/reports/pdf/185topline.pdf]. Such research has made proponents of IMF claim the IMF-critique misleading, as it would be difficult to speak of suffering if the sufferers don't feel hurt. The documentary Life and Debt deals with the IMF's policies' influence on Jamaica and its economy, from a critical point of view. == Past Managing Directors == An unwritten rule establishes that the IMF's managing director must be European and the president of the World Bank from United States. Bretton Woods Institutions * Economics * Bank for International Settlements * Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development * Special Drawing Rights * World Bank == External links == * [http://www.imf.org International Monetary Fund website] * How the IMF Props Up the Dollar System [http://www.serendipity.li/hr/imf_and_dollar_system.htm] *[http://web.gc.cuny.edu/eusc/activities/paper/schwartz.htm ''IMF’s Origins as a Blueprint for Its Future'', Anna J. Schwartz, National Bureau of Economic Research] == References == * * Dreher, Axel (2004), A Public Choice Perspective of IMF and World Bank Lending and Conditionality, ''Public Choice'' 119, 3-4: 445-464. *Dreher, Axel (2004), The Influence of IMF Programs on the Re-election of Debtor Governments, ''Economics & Politics'' 16, 1: 53-75 *Dreher, Axel (2003), The Influence of Elections on IMF Programme Interruptions, ''The Journal of Development Studies'' 39,6: 101-120. * ''The Best Democracy Money Can Buy'' by Greg Palast (2002) * The IMF and The World Bank: How do they differ?[http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/exrp/differ/differ.htm] by David D. Driscoll International organizationsInternational economics
International Monetary Fund
1) The World Bank and the World Bank Group are not exactly the same. 2) The IMF is not part of the World Bank nor the World Bank Group. See http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTABOUTUS/0,,contentMDK%3A20046275~menuPK%3A48380~pagePK%3A43912~piPK%3A44037~theSitePK%3A29708,00.html == Bias == Quotes section and other areas seem to be overly biased against the IMF. == IMF is keynesianistic? == I just don't have the time or language skill or whatsoever to rework the article but want to make an addition: I thought the IMF favours supply-side economics and does not follow a keynesianistic approach. At least that is what I had kept in my mind after reading Joseph Stiglitz' ''Globalization and it's discontents'' (on german) where Stiglitz (former chief economist of the world bank) critisized the IMF as imposing a too restrictive policy on countries the IMF gives loans to. In general, I think it is safe to say that the IMF follows "neoliberal" strategies (e.g. of the washington consensus) and thus is affiliated with monetarism. And in my personal experience of economic policies neoliberalism and monetarism are strongly affiliated with supply-side economics. == Veto == I've read that US has sole veto power in IMF, can anyone confirm? User:Mir 01:49, 27 Jan 2005 (UTC) : Yeah, there is a link to an article of a guy who claim the same thing == General Arrangements to Borrow == Some day, when someone have time we need to explicitly include a couple of paragraphs of how the fund operates. ie use of General Arrangements to Borrow, Gold Reserve and Special Drawing Rights. A mention of the fact that members are represented by the country's finance minister would help. *I would be interested in working with wiki editors on clarifying how IMF operates on these discussion pages. Personally, I find the wiki method of trial/error, edit/delete cumbersome & tiring. Would be interested in hearing from administrators willing to help. Thnx User:Nobs == Keynesian IMF? == In answer to the Keynesian - neo-liberal debate above: The IMF was instituted in and operated as a short-term credit fund for exchange rate stabilization throughout the Keynesian Welfare State era of 1945 - ~1971. With the removal of the fixed exchange rate system in the early 70s - the orignal role for the IMF was largely defunct. As neo-liberalism took hold in the US and Western Europe through the 70s and 80s, the IMFs role effectively switched to a generic creditor - loaning funds to 'developing' nations on the condition that they restructured their economies in line with neo-liberal and classical economic ideology. Arguably there has been a qualification of this stance with the recent HIPC initiatives, but it is safe to conclude that the IMF remains a neo-liberal institution, much removed from its original mandate. :Tverbeek: Good edit. I agree.User:Nobs 20:37, 18 May 2005 (UTC) == link to wiktionary == I just added a link to wiktionary after the word 'overdraft' (way at the end) because I had to look it up. The reason is that the English version of wikipedia is of course not just for native English speakers (if only because (at the moment) it is the biggest version of wikipedia). I know there's also a simplified English version, but for people like me, who know English well enough to understand almost everything in normal English, that is of course not the preferred choice. I'd say that if I (or someone with my command of the English language) need to look up a word to understand the article, it deserves a link to wiktionary. Are there any rules on this? Also, I'm not sure I've made the link the right way. User:DirkvdM 08:07, 2005 Apr 11 (UTC) :I reformatted the link. In general, you can link to witkionary like this:
See other meanings of words starting from letter:
I
IA | IB | IC | ID | IE | IF | IG | IH | IJ | IK | IL | IM | IN | IO | IP | IR | IS | IT | IU | IW | IX | IY | IZ |Words begining with International_Monetary_Fund:
International_Monetary_Fund
International_Monetary_Fund
International_Monetary_Fund_gold_reserve
International_Monetary_Fund_gold_reserve
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YouTube.com videos better site than Turbo Tax 2007
