Strengthening the Governance of the International Monetary Fund: How a Dual Board Structure Could Raise the Effectiveness and Legitimacy of a Key Global Institution

After having been at the helm of the international monetary system for decades, the International Monetary Fund was sidelined in policy debates in the past few years. One reason for the IMF not having taken a more central role in addressing key global policy issues in recent years relates to its internal governance. This paper focuses specifically on the structure and functioning of the Executive Board. The paper argues that Executive Board, although uniquely placed to provide authoritative guidance to IMF member countries, exert peer pressure and give economic policy advice, is overwhelmed by its tasks and responsibilities and too large to be an effective forum for true international economic dialogue. The paper makes the point that the highly diverse tasks of the IMF require different governance structures in order to be implemented effectively. We believe that the optimal number of governing bodies for the ongoing IMF work is not one, but that it is two, duly distinguishing between multilateral matters from country-related matters. Specifically, we propose to split the tasks that are predominantly systemic in nature from those that are predominantly country-focused and technical and believe that this can be done. Two different Boards would be dealing with these issues: a Systemic Issues Board and a Country Issues Board. The paper also discusses how such a dual board structure could be implemented in practice.IMF; Governance

An Examination and Exposition of Process-Thought and Extrapolation of its Themes for Theological Use

It is the expressed purpose of this study to investigate the possibilities for theological use of process philosophy. Within that scope and purpose, certain objects had to be met. First, it was necessary to understand as fully as possible the philosophical system itself. Second, certain judgements had to be made as to the availability of that system for theological and religious purposes. Finally, it was necessary to expand on the philosophical scheme to include certain theological notions that are not inherent in the system

A three-species model explaining cyclic dominance of pacific salmon

The four-year oscillations of the number of spawning sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) that return to their native stream within the Fraser River basin in Canada are a striking example of population oscillations. The period of the oscillation corresponds to the dominant generation time of these fish. Various - not fully convincing - explanations for these oscillations have been proposed, including stochastic influences, depensatory fishing, or genetic effects. Here, we show that the oscillations can be explained as a stable dynamical attractor of the population dynamics, resulting from a strong resonance near a Neimark Sacker bifurcation. This explains not only the long-term persistence of these oscillations, but also reproduces correctly the empirical sequence of salmon abundance within one period of the oscillations. Furthermore, it explains the observation that these oscillations occur only in sockeye stocks originating from large oligotrophic lakes, and that they are usually not observed in salmon species that have a longer generation time.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

The governance of the IMF: how a dual board structure could raise the effectiveness and legitimacy of a key global institution

The International Monetary Fund is currently engaged in a reform process to update its activities to the challenges of economic globalisation and establish it firmly as the central institution for international monetary cooperation. Yet, the current reforms may miss this aim because they do not foresee adjusting IMF governance so as to allow the Executive Board to become a forum for true international economic dialogue. Without such a change in governance, however, such economic dialogue is likely to continue moving outside the IMF, and spread in fora such as the G7, G20 or others that do not have universal status. This paper lays out a new proposal to adjust governance to make the IMF more effective in this area. It proposes to create a new smaller Board to deal with global economic issues of a systemic nature, and enlarge the current Board to make more room for developing countries, focusing it on country-related and technical matters, including bilateral surveillance and structural adjustment lending. The implementation of a dual Board structure is obviously challenging from an institutional point of view, and the paper discusses these challenges in detail. Yet, it would allow the IMF to be more effective and carry greater legitimacy vis-à-vis developing economies and at the same time play a more central role in international economic consultation and cooperation that in recent years has increasingly drifted towards the G-groups such as the G7, G20, G24 and other fora

Coexisting patterns of population oscillations: the degenerate Neimark Sacker bifurcation as a generic mechanism

We investigate a population dynamics model that exhibits a Neimark Sacker bifurcation with a period that is naturally close to 4. Beyond the bifurcation, the period becomes soon locked at 4 due to a strong resonance, and a second attractor of period 2 emerges, which coexists with the first attractor over a considerable parameter range. A linear stability analysis and a numerical investigation of the second attractor reveal that the bifurcations producing the second attractor occur naturally in this type of system.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure

An evolutionary disc model of the edge-on galaxy NGC 5907

We present a physical model that explains the two disparate observational facts: 1) the exponential vertical disc structure in the optical and NIR of the non-obscured part of the stellar disc and 2) the enhanced FIR/submm luminosity by about a factor of four near the obscured mid-plane, which requires additional dust and also stellar light to heat the dust component. We use multi-band photometry in U, B, V, R, and I- band combined with radiative transfer through a dust component to fit simultaneously the vertical surface-brightness and colour index profiles in all bands adopting a reasonable star formation history and dynamical heating function. The final disc model reproduces the surface-brightness profiles in all bands with a moderately declining star formation rate and a slowly starting heating function for young stars. The total dust mass is 57 million solar masses as required from the FIR/submm measurements. Without a recent star burst we find in the midplane an excess of 5.2-, 4.0-, and 3.0-times more stellar light in the U-, B-, and V-band, respectively. The corresponding stellar mass-to-light ratios are 0.91 in V- and 1.0 in R-band. The central face-on optical depth in V-band is 0.81 and the radial scale length of the dust is 40% larger than that of the stellar disc. Evolutionary disc models are a powerful method to understand the vertical structure of edge-on galaxies. Insights to the star formation history and the dynamical evolution of stellar discs can be gained. FIR/submm observations are necessary to restrict the parameter space for the models.Comment: 17 pages, 12 figures (24 files), A&A in pres

Strengthening the Governance of the International Monetary Fund: How a Dual Board Structure Could Raise the Effectiveness and Legitimacy of a Key Global Institution

After having been at the helm of the international monetary system for decades, the International Monetary Fund was sidelined in policy debates in the past few years. One reason for the IMF not having taken a more central role in addressing key global policy issues in recent years relates to its internal governance. This paper focuses specifically on the structure and functioning of the Executive Board. The paper argues that Executive Board, although uniquely placed to provide authoritative guidance to IMF member countries, exert peer pressure and give economic policy advice, is overwhelmed by its tasks and responsibilities and too large to be an effective forum for true international economic dialogue. The paper makes the point that the highly diverse tasks of the IMF require different governance structures in order to be implemented effectively. We believe that the optimal number of governing bodies for the ongoing IMF work is not one, but that it is two, duly distinguishing between multilateral matters from country-related matters. Specifically, we propose to split the tasks that are predominantly systemic in nature from those that are predominantly country-focused and technical and believe that this can be done. Two different Boards would be dealing with these issues: a Systemic Issues Board and a Country Issues Board. The paper also discusses how such a dual board structure could be implemented in practice

Strengthening the Governance of the International Monetary Fund: How a Dual Board Structure Could Raise the Effectiveness and Legitimacy of a Key Global Institution

After having been at the helm of the international monetary system for decades, the International Monetary Fund was sidelined in policy debates in the past few years. One reason for the IMF not having taken a more central role in addressing key global policy issues in recent years relates to its internal governance. This paper focuses specifically on the structure and functioning of the Executive Board. The paper argues that Executive Board, although uniquely placed to provide authoritative guidance to IMF member countries, exert peer pressure and give economic policy advice, is overwhelmed by its tasks and responsibilities and too large to be an effective forum for true international economic dialogue. The paper makes the point that the highly diverse tasks of the IMF require different governance structures in order to be implemented effectively. We believe that the optimal number of governing bodies for the ongoing IMF work is not one, but that it is two, duly distinguishing between multilateral matters from country-related matters. Specifically, we propose to split the tasks that are predominantly systemic in nature from those that are predominantly country-focused and technical and believe that this can be done. Two different Boards would be dealing with these issues: a Systemic Issues Board and a Country Issues Board. The paper also discusses how such a dual board structure could be implemented in practice