ABSTRACT
The late Jan Tinbergen (in Tinbergen and Fischer, 1987) observed that to almost any government ministry at the national level, there exists a corresponding international organization, such as the World Health Organization corresponding to a Ministry of Health, the International Labor Organization corresponding to a Ministry of Labor, the Food and Agriculture Organization corresponding to a Ministry of Agriculture, and so on. Every well-run country also has three major financial institutions: a Reserve Bank, an Investment Bank, and a Treasury. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) performs some of the functions of a Reserve Bank, which controls the money supply, although the IMF's functions could be expanded and strengthened to make it correspond more fully to a World Reserve Bank. Corresponding to an Investment Bank, there is the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, or World Bank. Corresponding to a Treasury, there is nothing comparable at the global level. Yet the treasury, which collects revenue with which to finance all the other operations of a government, is the most essential of all ministries. Without it, any government would soon collapse. Tinbergen, therefore, called for the creation of a World Treasury.
