该理念认为通过特别提款权的发行，国际货币基金组织可以给那些只能不断囤积美元的新兴经济体提供另一种增加储备的方式，而美国也无法“毫不心疼地”运行在贸易赤字之上，一方面遏制美国货币政策的扩张，另一方面也不至于使全球经济面临流动性枯竭的局面。
The idea was that by issuing SDRs, the IMF would provide catch-up economies seeking to accumulate reserves with an alternative to piling up dollars. The US could no longer run balance-of-payments deficits “without tears.��� American policy could be reined in without starving the global economy of liquidity.