Abstract

The stagflation of the 1970s and early 1980s created a dynamic of financial instability and regulatory erosion which destroyed the postwar monetary regime of nationally administered credit-money. Since then the international monetary system has become increasingly privatized, deregulated, and globally integrated. That combination has created a new environment in which financial capital has become a dominant force in the growth dynamic of the world economy. This is an ominous development, since it threatens the public-good quality of money and the stability conditions conducive for long-term investments on a worldwide basis. Reform initiatives to stabilize the international monetary system have been lagging and need to be advanced in a more coherent fashion to deal with a rapidly evolving global-deflation scenario.