Robert Triffin (1911-1993) played an important role in the international monetary debates in the postwar period. He was known as one of the main advocates of a multipolar international monetary system. In this paper we analyse the origins of riffin’s “regional” approach towards international monetary integration. We argue that Triffin’s experience with the European Payments Union (EPU)played hereby a crucial role. Triffin was not only an “architect” of the EPU, but the EPU also led to an important shift in Triffin’s view of the geography of the international monetary system. Before his work on the EPU, Triffin thought of the international economy as composed of two geographical entities: national economies and the world economy. With his work on the EPU he introduced a third geographical entity: the region. The EPU would so be at the basis of Triffin’s advocacy of a regional approach towards international monetary integration. Moreover, while Triffin was initially quite positive on the IMF, he became, through his EPU experience, more critical of the IMF and its worldwide approach.

中文翻译：

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欧洲支付联盟和特里芬国际货币一体化区域方法的起源

罗伯特·特里芬（Robert Triffin，1911-1993）在战后的国际货币辩论中发挥了重要作用。他被称为多极国际货币体系的主要倡导者之一。在本文中，我们分析了 riffin 实现国际货币一体化的“区域”方法的起源。我们认为特里芬在欧洲支付联盟 (EPU) 的经验在此发挥了关键作用。特里芬不仅是 EPU 的“建筑师”，而且 EPU 还导致特里芬对国际货币体系地理的看法发生了重要转变。在他研究 EPU 之前，特里芬认为国际经济由两个地理实体组成：国家经济和世界经济。在 EPU 的工作中，他引入了第三个地理实体：地区。因此，EPU 将成为特里芬倡导的国际货币一体化区域方法的基础。此外，虽然特里芬最初对 IMF 持相当积极的态度，但由于他在 EPU 的经验，他对 IMF 及其全球方法变得更加批评。