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Imf Structure and Process

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Submitted By cbotero99
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Pages 7
I structure this essay by assessing the IMF via the Liberal, Economic Nationalist, and Marxist frameworks. For backdrop, the IMF was established in July 1944 during the Bretton Woods Summit wherein over 700 delegates from over 40 countries gathered to agree on a new economic order, rules and institutions aimed at promoting worldwide economic development and global free trade.

To begin with, the Extreme Liberals would contend that the IMF should not exist at all. This is because the very existence of the IMF represents a form of intervention by the state, or collection of states, that the extreme liberals see as unnecessary. The liberal view is founded on the basic concept “laissez fair” which basically means “hands-off” or “allow to happen”. This doctrine was introduced by Adam Smith in his book, The Wealth of Nations, published in 1776. The basic idea is that commerce or trade should be allowed to occur without intervention by the state. It promotes the idea of primacy of markets and companies over the state and contends that internal trade is a “positive sum game” wherein results will work out positively and harmoniously for all involved. Their view is that the main player in global economics should be private entities and that market forces should apply in all respects.

For extreme liberals, maybe the most egregious aspect of the IMF is the idea of moral hazard, whereby individual countries will take unreasonable risks on the belief that if they fail, they will be bailed out by the IMF. Such a practice distorts the basic market forces and market balancing of the “invisible hand”. For liberals, primacy is market over the state and the pursuit of prosperity alone fuels innovation, investment, efficiency and growth. Competition, inefficiency and poor strategies cull the heard and the cycle continues. By all this, stability and sustainability of trade and peace

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