The causes of the global crisis are still hotly debated among economists, and for a good reason: the remedy crucially depends upon the diagnosis, and we still need a recipe to exit this crisis, which, in spite of early optimism, is still plaguing the world and Europe, with its sequel of financial disorder, sovereign risks and, above all, mass unemployment . Even more importantly, we need to devise methods by which global crises may be avoided in the future. This paper contributes to this debate by exploring a possible causal link running from our international monetary system to global imbalances, and from these to the crisis.