International Financial Integration

In the post-Bretton Woods era from 1971-2000 economists were engaged in a vigorous contest over major aspects of international integration: how to design an optimal currency exchange rate policy; the costs and benefits of international capital flows and policies to change their composition; the causes of financial crises and policies to overcome them; the place of the IMF in the rapidly globalizing international financial system; the ongoing process of currency consolidation and the costs and benefits of monetary union. This book responds to these issues by reviewing the various ideas and policies on the key dimensions of international financial integration and reform. It emphasizes the competing ideas among leading economists, including nine Nobel Laureates in economic science. By taking a comparative schools of thought approach, the book identifies central tenets of the main traditions of thought on the subject. It underpins lessons that are still at the forefront of modern debate on reform of the international financial architecture. This book is essential reading for all interested in international economics, international finance, economic history, international relations and modern economic thought.