Economic policy coordination

The recognition that international policy coordination is crucial for globally balanced economic growth has always been fundamental for the Fund's work. The need for such coordination has assumed new prominence since the major industrial countries met in Paris in Febru ary 1987, and, in the Louvre Accord, agreed to intensify coordination to promote more balanced economic growth and to reduce existing imbalances. Since then, the heads of state or government of the major countries have agreed, in the Venice Economic Declaration in June 1987, to strengthen existing arrangements for multilateral surveillance and economic cooperation, and the need for these stronger arrange ments has been confirmed by a number of subsequent statements by the ministers and central bank governors of the Group of Seven industrial countries.

With a little over a year's experience with such intensified coordina tion among the major countries, and against the background of the Fund's continuing involvement in this area, we thought it appropriate to step back and invite a number of practitioners and experts to give their views. The result was a seminar organized by the Fund and cosponsored by the HWWA-Institute in Hamburg in commemoration of the distinguished economist, Armin Gutowski, who was the Presi dent of the HWWA-Institute and Professor of Economics at the Uni versity of Hamburg until his death in 1988. The papers and comments that are brought together in this volume represent the current think ing of those who have been intimately involved in how coordination has worked, and in how it can be expected to work in the future. Although these views are personal, they are expert, and represent a substantial practical and theoretical contribution to an important de bate. My thanks go to all who have contributed to this conference, in particular to my friend Wilfried Guth who has conducted the proceed ings of the seminar in an admirable and most productive manner.