Reforming the International Financial Institutions: A Plan for Financial Stability and Economic Development

The world economy and the international financial system are now very different from what was envisioned at the Bretton Woods conference in 1944, when the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank were established. These principal international financial institutions have responded to the many changes and crises in recent decades by expanding their mandates and adding new lending facilities and programs. New regional institutions, such as the Inter-American Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and the African Development Bank, have opened to serve the needs of regional populations, but many of the activities of these agencies overlap with those of the World Bank.