The rapid growth in stablecoin issuance and the recent testing of stablecoins’ par settlement promises has provoked a flurry of papers proposing various forms of regulation and alternatives, from various vantage points. However, how do stablecoins hold up from the vantage point of the money view, which focuses attention on the mechanism of settlement and […]
Countries will need to mobilize a stepwise increase in domestic resources and put in place a broad array of new policies in order to meet the targets set out under the Paris Agreement on climate change and the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Delivering economic growth and prosperity in a manner that is […]
As the global economy faces increasing challenges in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, and as interest rates continue to rapidly rise in the United States and across the Global North, emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs) are facing a perfect storm of high inflation, increased borrowing costs and surging debt levels. Against this backdrop, […]
Much has been written about the questionable legitimacy of extending credit to states where it is likely that the funds will benefit the corrupt leader, or where the terms of the debt are highly inequitable. Less literature focuses on a different moment in the debt cycle: the point of default and the loss of voice […]
While a connection between economists Charles P. Kindleberger and Hyman Minsky is clear, the full extent of their intellectual relationship was unclear. By his own account, Kindleberger’s attention was only first brought to Minsky by Martin Meyer in 1976 as he was looking to build on his renowned book, World in Depression, 1929-1939. Kindleberger and […]
South Africa is one of the most unequal countries in the world, with clear race and gender factors seeming to play a major and increasing role in soaring wealth inequality and income inequality. Upon a closer look at inequality, there is a strong relationship between the size distribution of households and sectoral inequality. The link […]
Embedded in the foreign exchange (FX) market is huge, unseen dollar borrowing. In an FX swap, for instance, a Dutch pension fund or Japanese insurer borrows dollars and lends euro or yen in the “spot leg”, and later repays the dollars and receives euro or yen in the “forward leg.” Thus, an FX swap, along […]
Since the global financial crisis of 2008, the Global Financial Safety Net (GFSN) has changed dramatically to become increasingly voluminous and complex. Today, the GFSN is comprised of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), regional financial arrangements (RFAs) and bilateral currency swaps between central banks. The GFSN now has an unprecedented capacity for crisis prevention and […]
In 2021, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) committed to incorporate climate-related issues into its operations and is in the process of developing frameworks and policies. The IMF’s governance structure will impact the decision-making process on how these frameworks will be developed, with a quota system based on countries’ economic share determining formal voting power. Concurrently, […]
Even though monetary sovereignty remains an important reference point in both academic discourse and international politics, it has – throughout past decades – repeatedly been declared “over.” Creeping dollarization subjects states across the world to monetary and financial decisions made in the United States, while local financial systems depend increasingly on globally active mega-banks, asset […]