FONDAD

Fondad is an independent policy research centre and a forum for international discussion established in the Netherlands. Supported by a worldwide network of experts, it provides policy-oriented research on North-South issues in a globalising world, in particular international financial issues for developing countries. Fondad offers factual background information and practical strategies for policymakers and other interested groups in industrial, developing and transition countries.

History. Fondad was established in 1987 to stimulate discussions among academics and policymakers about international monetary reform and a resolution of the world debt crisis, with the view that the debt crisis of the early 1980s was a symptom of a malfunctioning, flawed system - see, for example, the article by the founder of Fondad Jan Joost Teunissen, "The International Monetary Crunch: Crisis or Scandal?", Alternatives, July 1987.

Among the economists who supported the founding of Fondad were the late Robert Triffin and Jan Tinbergen. H. Johannes Witteveen, former managing director of the IMF, has been acting as a member of the Advisory Board and has contributed to several Fondad publications including his Preface to Fragile Finance: Rethinking the International Monetary System and his chapter in The Policy Challenges of Global Financial Integration

Publications. Books published by Fondad can be found under "All Publications". You can read them on the screen, download them, and order them by sending an e-mail or fax to Adriana Bulnes (see Contact). Under "Other Publications", you will find articles published by other organisations and unpublished articles.

Fondad Network. Fondad has a network of academics and policymakers that spans around the world. One of the reasons these experts are committed to Fondad is that the forum is truly international and does not represent the specific interests of any country or region. You can find most of the Network members (but not all) by clicking on Network.

The Credit Crisis. During many years experts contributing to Fondad conferences and publications made valuable suggestions of how the global financial system could be improved and how financial crises could be prevented. On the Fondad blog "Thoughts" there is an ongoing discussion by members of the Fondad network about the current crisis. On the blog you can also read the personal views of Jan Joost Teunissen, the director of Fondad.

Reform of the International Monetary System. Jan Joost Teunissen gave a speech at a conference in Louvain-la-Neuve (7-8 May 2009) in which he advocated fundamental reform of the international monetary system. In his speech, "Why should we have listened better to Robert Triffin?", he refers to the March 2009 plea by China's central banker Zhou Xiaochuan to create a new global reserve currency replacing the dollar. Teunissen reminds that three years earlier Fan Gang, member of the Monetary Policy Committee of China's central bank and member of the Fondad Network, made a similar plea in his contribution to the Fondad conference and book Global Imbalances and the US Debt Problem: Should Developing Countries Support the US Dollar?