New financial architecture and regional monetary integration in Latin America

14 p.Reducing transaction costs and the need for international reserves is a primary objective to the establishment of regional payment agreements. Another objective, especially in the case of Latin America where the Ecuadorian promoters of the Bank of the South and the New Architecture are planning the implement of a regional clearing system, is to reduce member countries dependence on the US dollar as an international standard and reserve currency. To help improving the design of such agreements this paper refers to the plan Keynes designed for the Bretton Woods Conference. First, it observes that cases were made against this plan from which useful lessons may still be drawn. Second, it shows that Keynes defined a system for exchanging domestic currencies for each other that can be improved and help design currency unions in accordance with their promoters'objectives