The Robustness of the Global Financial Safety Net: A Multilayer Network Analysis

Originally laid out as an integrated system centered on the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Global Financial Safety Net (GFSN) has evolved into a multitiered architecture comprising IMF resources, regional financing arrangements, bilateral swap arrangements, and international reserves. Existing scholarship typically evaluates this complex web of institutions through the lens of institutional density, examining how the proliferation of liquidity arrangements affects the effectiveness of crisis management. Yet institutional topology—the inter-institutional structure of the system—also shapes the robustness of the GFSN by influencing its capacity to absorb global economic shocks. To examine this dimension, we conduct a multilayer network analysis of the GFSN from 1977 to 2024 and explore whether institutional change is systematically associated with greater system-level robustness. Our findings show that, despite substantial structural changes and increased institutional complexity, countries have not enhanced the capacity of the GFSN to reduce system-wide vulnerability to global economic shocks. While certain aspects of the system’s configuration have improved over time, persistent gaps in coverage and uneven access to liquidity backstops leave many countries vulnerable to crises and with limited policy options.