The twins are too alike.

Banker, The, April, 2000

It no longer makes sense for the IMF and the World Bank to be separate entities

The debacle over choosing a new head of the IMF to replace former managing director Michel Camdessus has served to obscure underlying debate about what the role of this institution should be. However, if the market philosophy under which the Fund now operates is carried to its logical conclusion, then whoever is finally selected could end up being the last person to preside over the IMF as an independent institution.

Market logic is increasingly dictating that the so-called Bretton Woods "twins" -- the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank -- are redundant in the form in which they were founded more than 50 years ago. There is a strong case to be made for merging...

Read the rest of this article with a Free Trial at HighBeam Research.

Premium Content Partnership | HighBeam Research provides an in-depth online archive library of reference works.