The 21-century clash of ideas about how to fix a system created for a 20th-century world is one of the most consequential facing the global economy.
- The I.M.F. was set up in 1944 to help rescue countries in financial distress when the US was the pre-eminent economic superpower, and scores of developing nations in Africa and Asia had not yet gained independence.
- Nearly 80 years later, the global financial architecture is outdated, dysfunctional and unjust.