A Study On The Dispute Over Proposals For International Monetary System Reform

Current International monetary system, which is also known as the Jamaica system, came into being in wake of the breakdown of the Bretton Woods system. Under the current system, destructive financial crises break out at a frequency abnormally high. On top of that, global imbalance has reached to such a point with America's gigantic current account deficit being the most distinctive feature that can not be considered stable or tolerable anymore. Obviously, reform is called upon on current international monetary system. Therefore, one might wonder:what proposals have already been brought forward by economists? How should they be assessed? Which reform path will be finally adopted?This paper is composed of five chapters. Chapter 1 introduces research background and specifies research problems. Chapter 2 studies the evolution and the characteristics of international monetary, offering a starting point and a firm ground for further study. Chapter 3 discusses the major proposals to reform the current international monetary system. Chapter 4 assesses and compares these different proposals for international monetary system reform. Chapter 5 presents the final conclusion of this paper.After thorough analysis, this paper comes to the conclusion that the major flaw of the current international monetary system is its international dollar standard. Therefore, proposals that aim to reform the international dollar standard are chosen to elaborate. These proposals are further divided into three categories:proposals based on multi-polar system, SDR and the Keynes Plan.After assessing and comparing these proposals from the perspective of stability, liquidity, adjustment mechanism and feasibility, this paper comes to the conclusion that the international monetary system is most likely to involve into a multi-polar one. However, this will generate a unstable tendency. Therefore, proposals based on SDRs should also be advocated to provide some degree of stability and adjustment mechanism. As to proposals based on Keynes Plan, despite the lack in feasibility, its emphasis on symmetry and automate should nevertheless be appreciated.