Modernizing and Reshaping the Bretton Woods Institutions for the 21st Century

This paper lays out the contours of a reformed Bretton Woods Institutions - the IMF, the World Bank Group (WBG) and the WTO - that the world needs for the 21st century. Some of the challenges the world faces today - rising inequality, growing nationalism and protection are what led to World War II from whose ruin emerged the current Bretton Woods international financial architecture. While these institutions performed well over their first 50 years - they have been struggling in more recent times as problems of rising inequality, financial instability and protectionism have re-emerged. But in addition, the threat of climate change and ecological stress, rising disasters, and a more inter-connected world with new threats like cyber-security and pandemics require a new international financial architecture. A modernized and re-invigorated set of Bretton Woods institutions to help address and mitigate these challenges, with a global remit and the mandate to monitor agreed global rules and enhanced resources not only to help individual countries but also to address global problems.