Governing Global Finance—The Evolution and Reform of the International Financial Architecture

Governing Global Finance examines the evolution of financial globalization and the attempts that have been made at the international level to establish a system of global financial governance (i.e. the international financial architecture) to safeguard the functioning of the international financial system. It explains how the international financial architecture has come to take the form that it has, and why it was unable to prevent the recent global financial crisis. The book considers a number of reforms that have been proposed to minimize the risk of future financial crises, as well as others that need to be implemented.

Anthony Elson is an international economic consultant and university lecturer in the Washington, DC area. For a number of years, he was a senior staff member of the International Monetary Fund, and more recently has been a senior consultant with the World Bank. In his current capacity, Elson has published several articles on international financial issues, and has taught courses on global financial governance and comparative economic development at the Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of Johns Hopkins University, the Sanford School of Public Policy of Duke University, and Yale University. During 2008-09, he was the ENI Professor of International Economics at the Johns Hopkins SAIS Bologna Center, where the work on this book was initiated.