Catherine Schenk

My research ranges across a variety of topics in international economic relations. I am particularly interested in the current policy implications of the history of the development of international financial regulation and the organisation of the international monetary system since 1945. Additionally, I undertake research on the development of Hong Kong's international financial centre and relations between Hong Kong and Mainland China since 1945.

My current major research project is a comparative study of financial regulation in Hong Kong, New York and London from 1961-1982 to understand the relations between banks and regulators, the constraints on effective banking supervision, the impact of financial regulation and how multilateral institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the Bank for International Settlements interacted with national regulators.

Additionally, I am exploring why proposals to reform the international monetary system in the 1970s and 1980s, such as the Substitution Account and a rules based system for balance of payments adjustment, were not effective and what this might suggest about the prospects for similar proposals today.

A third set of research questions address the determinants of international currency status and how this changes over time, by examining how the role of sterling in the international monetary system evolved since 1945. This has implications for current international monetary reform and the future role of the US dollar and the SDR.