April 07, 2008
This week IMF governors will debate a change in members' quota shares--or voting power--that is meant to give China, India, and other developing countries more votes and thus a bigger stake in the Fund's future. CGD president Nancy Birdsall thinks that the proposal falls short. Instead, she writes, the Fund should opt for double-majority voting which would require that decisions be endorsed by both a majority of IMF member countries and a majority according to countries' voting weight. Birdsall argues that adopting this approach would restore the IMF's role as a legitimate and effective international forum on global financial issues.