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Resurrecting Keynes to Stabilize the International Monetary System

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  • Pietro Alessandrini
  • Michele Fratianni

Abstract

We adapt the basic principles of the Keynes Plan and argue for the creation of a supranational bank money that would coexist along side national currencies and for the establishment of a new international clearing union (NICU). These principles remain timely because the fundamental causes of the instability of the international monetary system are as valid today as they were in the early Forties. The new international money would be created against domestic earning assets of the Fed and the ECB. The quantity of this supranational bank money would be demand driven and thus would differ from the helicopter-money Special Drawing Rights. NICU would not hold open positions in assets denominated in national currency and consequently would not bear exchange rate risk. NICU would be more than an office where to record credit and debit entries of the supranational bank money. The financial tsunami that has hit the United States in 2007-2008 provides a unique opportunity for a coordinated strategy.
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Suggested Citation

  • Pietro Alessandrini & Michele Fratianni, 2009. "Resurrecting Keynes to Stabilize the International Monetary System," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 339-358, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:openec:v:20:y:2009:i:3:p:339-358
    DOI: 10.1007/s11079-008-9106-4
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Keynes Plan; External imbalances; Exchange rates; International monetary system; Key currency; Supranational bank money; E42; E52; F33; F36;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E42 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Monetary Sytsems; Standards; Regimes; Government and the Monetary System
    • E52 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Monetary Policy
    • F33 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - International Monetary Arrangements and Institutions
    • F36 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Financial Aspects of Economic Integration

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