GEI Newsletter Issue No. 2

Editorial - by David Vines

Also in this issue:

Global Competition Policy in the International Economic Order
by Peter Holmes
‘Political Economy, Sovereign Debt and the Role of the IMF’ G E I Workshop, Cambridge, 7/8 July 1995
by Sylvia Vally
Seminars at Chatham House on Subsidiarity in the Governance of the Global Economy

Editorial
by David Vines

The Global Economic Institutions (GEI) Research Programme is a research programme funded by the Economic and Social Research Council of Great Britain. The purpose of the programme is to study how existing global economic institutions and regimes operate, and how they might be improved, and whether new institutions are needed. Ten projects began work in 1994, a further six will begin in 1996, and activities include a number of workshops and conferences. The Programme will run until 1998.

Initial research in Phase 1 of the Programme has focused on three themes: the future of the international monetary system, issues relating to the world trade regime, and regionalism.

In considering the future of the international monetary system a first question to ask concerns the role of the IMF. Why do countries need the IMF for macroeconomic policy-making? (Could its advice be privatized? Is actual lending from the IMF a necessary part of an IMF Adjustment Programme? Is IMF ‘conditionality’ really necessary?) What is the appropriate role for the IMF in international capital markets? (If the IMF assists with lender of last resort facilities and orderly workouts in crises, does this make matters better or worse?) Should the IMF be an international agent for policy reform? Why should it be the IMF which assists in the buying out of domestic political opposition to desirable reforms? What should be the role of the IMF in information provision: is there a conflict between the timely release of information to the markets and the leverage which inside information brings to the IMF (as to any financial intermediary)? A highly successful two-day workshop was held in Cambridge in July 1995 at which these issues were aired, and there is a full report on that workshop in this issue of the Newsletter. A more formal conference is planned for the second half of 1995.

Some of the work in the GEI Programme on the world trade regime is evident in an article by GEI project-holder Peter Holmes on International Competition Policy and the WTO. Plans are also underway for a workshop to be held in the area of international competition policy, and the regulation of the new information services on 25/26 April 1996 in London. This workshop will bring together disparate communities of researchers and policy-makers from the fields of (i) trade policy, (ii) competition policy, (iii) national regulators, and (iv) standards setting institutions, to discuss common concerns. The essential issues which will be discussed will relate to overlap: each of these groups are affected by the decisions of the other groups. What kinds of global institutions might assist with this overlap? Further details of this workshop may be found on page 12 of this newsletter.

Finally, work is beginning on regionalism. At present there are strongly conflicting visions concerning regional trade liberalization: should it, as in the Pacific, involve mutual support for the maximum possible extent of unilateral trade liberalization, or should it, as in Europe and North America, be by means of regional trading blocs, with trade barriers only removed within the bloc. What should be the relation between centre and periphery – the Pacific model of openness or the Europe-North America model of exclusion coupled with ad-hoc special arrangements? What policies should be carried out at regional level: trade, or money, or competition, or regulation, or standards-setting? What are the implications of regionalism for global trade liberalization?

Future issues to be tackled by researchers in the GEI Programme and in programme workshops include: (i) international macroeconomc policy and coordination, (ii) international regulatory issues in global financial markets, and (iii) the interplay between internal organization and external pressures in global economic institutions.

The Programme will be holding a series of workshops and meetings on all of the issues discussed above during 1996, 1997, and 1998.

An information pack, containing details of the research projects in the Programme, and information on Programme workshops and meetings, is available. For further information contact: David Vines, Director of the GEI Programme; or Centre for Economic Policy Research, 90-98 Goswell Road, London EC1V 7RR, UK, tel: (44 120) 7878 2900, fax: (44 20) 7878 2999.

The Newsletter of the GEI programme is published three times annually to inform policy-makers and the academic community of research, meetings, conferences, and Working Papers of the GEI programme.

To receive regular issues of the Newsletter of the Global Economic Institutions programme or to receive copies of back issues send an email containing your address and contact numbers to gei@cepr.org.