Reforming the international financial architecture: What globalization critics demand and what policymakers have (not) achieved

Various financial crises have eroded confidence in the wellfunctioning of international capital markets. Against this backdrop, this article discusses the demand of globalization critics to radically remodel the international financial architecture and assesses recent changes in the regulatory framework. We conclude that some radical proposals have been rejected for good economic reasons. However, market failure in global financial intermediation requires regulatory reforms going beyond what policymakers have agreed upon so far. In important respects, the reform process appears to be stalled, mainly because of conflicting interests of major political players.