The European Union made capital controls illegal in 1992, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development enforced free finance on its new members, paving the way for financial crises in Mexico and South Korea in 1994 and 1997, respectively. The IMF adopted the agenda wholeheartedly, and its leadership sought (unsuccessfully) to amend the Articles of Agreement to give the Fund formal powers over capital-account policies in its member states.
但是，到了20世纪80年代末，决策者对资本流动的迷恋卷土重来。欧盟与1992年宣布资本管制为非法，经合组织强迫其新成员国实施金融自由，这为1994年的墨西哥危机和1997年的韩国危机打开了大门。IMF对这一日程全盘照抄，其领导人试图（并成功地）修改章程，授予IMF干涉其成员国资本管制政策的正式权力。