40 Years On

• Author: Ian S. McDonald
• Position: Editor-in-Chief of Finance & Development
• Pages: 47-51

On F&D's 40th birthday, a former Editor-in-Chief of the magazine reviews four decades of publishing

Page 47

The Initial impetus for what was to become Finance & Development came from the late Frank J. Southard, then IMF Deputy Managing Director, who was renowned for his stern oversight of every aspect of the IMF's operations. He conceived of a "Fund Survey" that would seek to explain the purposes and operations of the IMF. His initiative came at a time when there was virtually no public understanding of the IMF and its work, not even a basic pamphlet to explain its operations to the curious.

Yet there was much to explain. The IMF had been intimately involved in rebuilding the international monetary system after the Second World War, it had provided large amounts of financing to France and the United Kingdom following the 1956 Suez crisis, and its membership had begun to expand as newly decolonized countries became members. The purpose and operations of the institution, though, were still little known to the public at large and even to the officials of many member countries.

A paper prepared for the IMF's Executive Board proposed the establishment of the new publication. However, when Southard mentioned his plan to some of the vice presidents of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (better known as the World Bank), they immediately expressed an interest in being a part of the endeavor. There was little enthusiasm at the time among senior IMF staff for entering into a partnership with the Bank, but Southard sent down a memorandum saying firmly that he had decided that there would be a joint publication and that was the way it would be. The Board paper was accordingly delayed until the details of a joint publication could be worked out. As part of the understanding, it was agreed that the IMF would be responsible for the editing and production.

First issue

Volume 1, Number 1, of what was then called The Fund and Bank Review: Finance & Development appeared in June 1964. The chosen name reflected the two main purposes of the IMF and the Bank. A foreword written by Pierre-Paul Schweitzer, then Managing Director of the IMF, and George W. Woods, President of the Bank, explained the purpose of the new venture-namely, "to explain for a wide audience the business of the IMF and of the World Bank and its two affiliated institutions." It noted that, while "this business is carried on by specialists . . . , many other people are interested in our work, and . . . they would like to be informed about it and without too many technicalities." The new publication, the foreword emphasized, would not be an official document or a scholarly journal,Page 48 such as Staff Papers, which the IMF was already publishing.

To oversee the magazine, the IMF appointed John D. Scott, an experienced author and editor who had worked on the official U.K. history of the Second World War. He began cautiously. In contrast to today's publication with its attractive color graphics and wide range of articles from authors both inside and outside the IMF, the first issues of F&D were relatively sober affairs. Smaller in format than the present magazine, with a simple, unadorned cover, the maiden issue stuck closely to its mandate of explaining the IMF and the Bank.

The initial two articles introduced the Bretton Woods twins. The first, by J. Keith Horsefield, then the official historian of the IMF, was later reprinted as the first in the IMF's basic pamphlet series, a precedent that was followed by a number of later articles. But other articles took a wider perspective, looking at Japan's plan to double income, issues of inflation and growth, and hopes and problems in world education, all based on ongoing work at the two institutions. The issue concluded with articles reviewing recent activity in the IMF and the Bank, a practice that would continue until the introduction of the IMF Survey in 1972 made it redundant. From the beginning, the magazine was produced in French and Spanish, as well as English. Circulation for the three editions was...