ABSTRACT
In late 2008, as the financial crisis reached undoubtedly global and historical proportions, the leaders of several countries started talking about the need for a “Bretton Woods II”, in reference to the foundational character of the reform that the crisis should trigger. In November 2008, the Group of 20 (G20) – a grouping that involves several emerging market countries and was created after the East Asian financial crisis as an informal forum to broaden the discussion on international economic affairs – was vested with a new mandate. The Heads of State of this group – which hitherto had met usually at Finance Ministers’ level – gathered in the US for an unprecedented G20 Summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy that agreed on “Principles” and an “Action Plan for Reform”. The Summit was followed by second and third ones, held in London (April 2009) and Pittsburgh (September 2009). A Summit on world financial and monetary reform was also held at the United Nations, 24–26 June. Its preparations were fed by a Commission of Experts on Financial and Monetary Reforms appointed by the President of the General Assembly. It was chaired by Nobel Prize-winner economist Joseph Stiglitz and featured former and current well-known economic policy-makers, besides experts from academia.
