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AbstractInternational financial institutions (IFIs) are central actors shaping global development. Scholarship on these institutions’ governance has primarily explored unequal voting rights and informal channels of decision-making. Much less is known about the actual decision-making processes that transpire in the IFIs’ formal governance structures, where votes are rarely taken. This article redirects academic scrutiny to these structures to reveal hitherto unobserved state behavior. Empirically, we examine decision-making at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a key actor in the diffusion of market-oriented reforms. We introduce a novel dataset systematizing all comments of IMF Executive Board members over 3,111 developing-country-specific discussions between 1995 and 2015. First, regression analysis reveals that the interventions by the IMF’s most powerful member-states—the United States, Germany, Japan, France, and the United Kingdom—correlate with their bilateral trade and aid interests. Second, these countries frequently reference each other in debates, demonstrating how coalitions work in practice. Third, we find that the preferences they express for market liberalization vis-à-vis countries in the Global South are associated with an increase in market-liberalizing conditions in subsequent lending programs. Taken together, this article reveals the usefulness of examining formal deliberations in IFIs, contributing to a fuller understanding of decision-making processes in the international political economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To what extent is neoliberal global economic governance transforming in a world where states play greater roles as promoters, supervisors and owners of capital? Do these transformations signal a potential paradigm shift? To answer these questions, we focus on global financial governance and the trade and investment regime. We analyse recent policy documents from the IMF, World Bank and WTO – the 'Unholy Trinity' of neoliberal global governance. Our analysis reveals a growing acceptance of state interventionism within and across these organizations. Although this accommodation is significant, we argue that it constitutes a limited transformation. We observe attempts to incorporate emerging state interventionist practices and state-owned entities into established governance arrangements in order to discipline, curtail and control them. We argue that this does not signify a shift towards post-neoliberal plurality within Western-dominated global economic governance, but rather a defensive, 'mutating neoliberalism' which seeks to incorporate depoliticized and commercially oriented state ownership into its mainframe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a detailed and exhaustive analysis of the project management processes used by four of the most influential international financial institutions: the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Central Bank (ECB), and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). While each institution operates under different mandates--ranging from the World Bank's focus on development projects, the IMF's emphasis on macroeconomic programming, the ECB's management of financial stability and banking supervision, to the OECD's coordination of policy research and advisory roles--they all share a common goal of fostering global economic stability and development. Despite their distinct project management frameworks shaped by their organizational structures and strategic objectives, these institutions share several similarities in their approaches. This paper explores their unique methodologies, offering a comprehensive understanding of their roles in global financial governance and the impact of their projects on the global economy. It also provides a comparative analysis, highlighting the similarities and differences in their approaches, and ultimately proposes a Common Project Management Model (CPMM) that integrates best practices from all institutions, ensuring a unified approach to managing high-impact global initiatives effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explore the extent of the fiscal resource gap described by climate-vulnerable developing countries which have called for debt flexibility. We compute indices of fiscal sustainability, defined as the difference between an economy's current tax rate and the "sustainable" tax rate, or the rate which, if constant, would enable the debt-to-GDP ratio at time n to be equal to the debt-to-GDP ratio at time 0, given current policy rules. We estimate short- and medium-term gap indices for 2010 to 2020, and a "climate change gap" (CCG) which incorporates countries' reported climate change needs for the period 2021–2030. Estimated short- and medium-term gaps capture the 2020 disruption to fiscal sustainability, while CCGs indicate a highly diverse picture: one-third of the sample have CCGs ranging from 10 to 99 % of GDP, another third have CCGs from −8.6 to −0.3 %. Negative CCGs, which imply that immediate adjustments in taxes or spending are not required for fiscal policy sustainability, are surprising but come with a crucial caveat: CCGs are likely to be significantly understated because of data gaps, especially regarding adaptation requirements. This highlights the urgent need for finance and technical assistance dedicated to building national capacities for determining and costing climate change needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fiscal rules are spreading fast among countries. However, why and when governments enact fiscal rules and strengthen their national fiscal legal frameworks are less well understood. This article argues that governments use fiscal rules to signal commitment to fiscal prudence to both creditors and national voters. It investigates this theoretical argument empirically by using a worldwide panel of countries from 1985 to 2015. The empirical analyses find robust evidence that fiscal rules enactment becomes more likely, and that fiscal rules stringency increases when government debt is high and in election years but less evidence that being under an IMF program increases the strength of fiscal rules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ghana has a long history of engagement with the IMF. Successive governments of Ghana have sought economic bailouts from the IMF due to worsening domestic macroeconomic stability. This paper examines Ghana's historical engagement with the IMF and the associated macroeconomic outcomes, and offers lessons for economic restructuring and growth beyond the bailouts. The paper explores the common patterns of the key macroeconomic variables and possible latent causal effects. The results reveal intermittent and short-term effects of the IMF programs. The bailouts often have a short-term impact on macroeconomic stability and growth, but the effects are unsustainable in the long term, especially after the IMF program ends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyse the impact of International Monetary Fund (IMF) programmes on appointing women leaders in ministerial positions. We hypothesize that women leaders are selected after an incumbent government starts an IMF programme to shift accountability to them during political and economic turmoil. This political manoeuvring of appointing women to leadership positions during a crisis is known as the 'glass cliff' effect. We demonstrate substantial evidence for such a 'glass cliff' effect using data covering all IMF programmes from 1980 to 2018. Our evidence shows that women are more likely to be appointed to austerity‐bearing ministerial positions under IMF programmes but not in positions of authority during negotiations with the IMF. This effect is more pronounced when a country displays worse societal gender norms, a higher level of corruption and a government facing a deeper economic crisis. Importantly, we verify that neither women's leadership nor a higher share of women in government predicts a balance of payments crisis triggering an IMF programme. In other words, women leaders do not govern worse; they are appointed to leadership positions in precarious, crisis‐ridden conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our study aims to examine whether sectoral value-added matters while analysing the impact of financial development on international trade for BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries. This indirect effect is captured in our study through the transmission channel of sectoral value additions arising from the agriculture, industry and service sectors. The study employs the pooled mean group approach of the panel autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model to check for the presence of co-integration and estimate short-run and long-run relationships among the variables of interest. The presence of co-integration between international trade, financial development, sectoral value added and the control variables, namely net foreign direct investment inflows and per-capita income, is found in the case of BRICS countries. The direct effect of financial development on international trade for BRICS countries is found to be positive and significant in the long run. While examining the indirect effect, it was found that the interaction term between the IMF index of financial development and industrial sectoral value added has a positive and significant impact on trade openness in the long run. In the case of service sector value added and financial development interaction, the impact on trade openness is found to be positive but insignificant, whereas in the case of agriculture value added, the impact is found to be negative and insignificant in the long run. Policies for enhancing the access, efficiency and depth of financial markets and financial institutions should be the top priority for BRICS countries, as they aim to become bigger players in the international trade arena. Targeted policy interventions for increasing the value additions emanating from the industry and service sectors will prove helpful in strengthening the indirect positive effect of financial development on international trade for BRICS countries, while also considering the degree of informality in each of these sectors in the member countries when designing such policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article will explain how a series of educator strikes in 2022 in Ghana led to increased awareness of and calls for tax justice and debt relief from a growing movement of public sector workers and civil society organisations. We chart how the issues and demands of teacher organisations and other public sector workers shifted and increased over time, bringing in a new public imaginary to critique IMF driven austerity policies, build and link to global campaigns around debt relief, and signal new possibilities for generating more stable domestic public sector tax revenues. We examine the evolving strategies of growing educator strikes and show how unions are joining together with other civil society and advocacy groups to challenge fiscal austerity and government policies that affect not only their schools and classrooms but their lives and livelihoods. This case describing what Ghanaian teacher unions are doing to organise members to learn about and challenge austerity policies highlights the importance of public sector workers' knowledge, understanding and engaging governmental macro-economic policies and offering alternative solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transparency about measurement errors in macroeconomic statistics is lacking. Inaccuracy is usually acknowledged only during extraordinary situations or under specific policy demands. Despite advances in technology and methodology, the overall accuracy has not improved due to economic changes and new complex activities. Even striking historical efforts did not change the persistence of substantial inaccuracies and biases. While the pioneers of national accounting addressed inaccuracies by using multiple accounting approaches and transparently reported error estimates, current statistical offices and other data producers rarely publish error measures, thereby creating an illusion of precision. Best practices and new measurement methods, such as satellite observation, Big Data, and Artificial Intelligence, promise improvements but face significant challenges without clear standards and an awareness of measurement error and bias. Regular and transparent reporting of measurement errors is and will be essential to improve the data reliability. Empowering data users—funding agencies, academics, and journalists—through error reporting and education can challenge the status quo.

Where did Ecuador’s foreign debt originate and grow to alarming levels? The purpose of this article is to describe, from an analytical perspective based on the contributions of various authors, the origin of Ecuador’s external debt with international institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, as well as the support that these organizations provide for the development of the countries of the South, case Ecuador. To achieve this purpose, a documentary methodology was implemented that included an exhaustive review of studies focused on the specific variables subject to analysis, the PRISMA tool and Atlas.ti 23 were used. The results show that the creation of these financing agencies in their attempt to support the financial stability of developing countries has not been sufficiently effective in improving the welfare conditions of a good percentage of the population and has generated an imbalance in the sustained development of the poorest countries. It is concluded that the capitalist system gives predominant priority to the economic growth of nations, thus relegating in its model the consideration of human development. This orientation does not contribute effectively to the improvement of crucial aspects such: education, health and the standard of living of the population.

Copyright of Larq Journal for Philosophy, Linguistics & Social Sciences is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Are International Monetary Fund (IMF) programs raising greenhouse gas emissions in the Global South? I argue powerful actors structure markets in ways exacerbating climate change. This works through the IMF's imposition of market coercion—specifically, currency devaluation, global openness and fiscal pressures from austerity. Countries respond to these conditions through extractivist strategies and productive growth to increase exports. To investigate this relationship, I use instrumental variables and difference-in-difference analyses for 130 countries between 1980 and 2018. Results show emissions increase from structural lending conditions but not when conditions afford borrowers more flexibility. This effect takes several years to manifest. While there is no single sector responsible for this change, agriculture, land-use changes and, to some extent, industry, have notable emission effects following an IMF program. Global South emissions are partly rooted in imposed austerity which raises important political questions about the climate crisis, development and international finance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global foreign direct investment (FDI) has been declining both in absolute terms and as a share of world GDP due to various factors such as changes in industrial organization, rising trade barriers, and a decrease in M&A activity. While greenfield FDI projects have shown a positive trend in recent years, with investments shifting away from China to other Asian economies and the US, the overall impact on growth remains uncertain. The slowdown in FDI is seen as a sign of 'slowbalisation,' indicating a shift from rapid globalization to a more subdued global economic environment. [Extracted from the article]

International organizations (IOs) are rapidly reorienting around climate change, despite powerful principal states having divergent preferences on the issue. When and why do IOs prioritize climate change? We argue that they do so as a result of an endogenous process of staff learning and rotation. IO staff surveil and implement programs in target states. When working in climate‐vulnerable countries, they come to see climate change as an issue warranting aggressive action. As these staff are rotated and promoted, interest in climate diffuses outwards and upwards through the institution. To test this theory, we introduce original data tracking the International Monetary Fund's attention to climate change and the career paths of key staff. We complement this with interviews of International Monetary Fund personnel. We find support for our theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The "Author Index Volume 15" from the Journal of International Commerce, Economics & Policy lists various authors and their respective articles published in the journal. Topics covered include the impact of economic policy uncertainty on stock market indices, the effects of climate policy uncertainty on oil markets, and the influence of international food standards on firms' export behavior. The index provides a comprehensive overview of research articles on diverse economic and policy-related subjects, offering valuable insights for researchers and scholars in the field. [Extracted from the article]

A feature of IMF programs is the relatively large proportion that are not carried through to completion. One explanation is that excessive conditionality undermines ownership and commitment to IMF-favored policy reform. The IMF's "streamlining" initiative in the early 2000s was intended to limit conditionality and thereby improve the completion rate. This paper empirically investigates the relationship between conditionality and completion. For the full period, 1980–2019, it discovers no statistically significant relationship between them at the aggregate level. It goes on to examine the ways in which this result can be interpreted and discusses the implications for reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The study aims to find out the impact of financial inclusion and financial development on financial stability using panel data from eight countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Design/methodology/approach: To achieve the aim of the study, the researcher prepared two indicators of financial inclusion and governance to find out the impact of financial development on the relationship between financial inclusion and financial stability. Data on financial inclusion was obtained from the International Monetary Fund, data on financial development and financial stability were obtained from the World Bank. Findings: The results of the fixed and random effect methods show that financial inclusion has a significant positive effect on financial stability. Additionally, financial development represents a moderating variable in the significant positive effect on the relationship between financial inclusion and stability in the MENA countries. Research limitations/implications: The current study suffers from some limitations that researchers must be aware of in future research. First, there is an inability to determine qualitative aspects such as time and cost when designing a composite indicator of financial inclusion. Second, due to limited data, we used only eight countries from the MENA. It is suggested to expand the sample to include other countries. Originality/value: This paper contributes to the related literature between financial inclusion and financial stability by confirming or denying the results of previous studies. Also, to the best of the author's knowledge, this paper is the only one that explains the role of financial development in the relationship between financial inclusion and stability in MENA countries, using a composite index to calculate financial inclusion. Finally, the study seeks to focus the attention of the government and policymakers to build a system of financial inclusion that leads to improving financial stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The elimination of budgetary disequilibrium remains a contentious issue, with scholars and policymakers debating the efficacy of tax alterations versus limiting government outlays. This topic has garnered significant attention, although research on the spending-revenue nexus is noticeably skewed against Africa, which presents an intriguing research opportunity. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) reported a concerning rise in public debt across Africa, highlighting the urgent need for public finance consolidation. In contrast to the extant literature, this study examines the dynamic link between revenues and expenditures from 1990 to 2022. Applying wavelet decomposition to account for temporary variations, our analysis reveals dynamic patterns in the revenue-expenditure nexus. Our findings support the institutional separation hypothesis in the short run, suggesting a distinct relationship between revenues and outlay. However, in the medium-to long-run, our results support the fiscal synchronization hypothesis, accentuating a more intertwined association between revenues and expenditures. This study sheds light on the nuanced dynamics of budgetary equilibrium in Africa, providing insights that can inform policy priorities and decision-making. Finally, by focusing on the unique context of Africa and using advanced techniques, this study contributes to the existing literature on budgetary equilibrium, filling a crucial gap in our knowledge of the public finance dynamics in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) have been criticised for their weak commitment to human rights, with the World Bank subject to greater scrutiny and criticism than the IMF and despite significant progress since 2015 in linking its policies and operations to international human rights law. In this light, we explore the extent to which the IMF meets its responsibilities under international human rights law. We focus on IMF conditionality, on the conditions attached to IMF loans to countries in the global South. Using QDA Miner Lite, and a system of interpretive coding, we explore the extent to which international human rights standards are reflected in IMF loan conditions on the basis of inter-temporal and cross-country comparisons. We find that human rights are increasingly reflected in IMF conditionality, but also that it continues to undermine human rights, for instance, by unduly constraining the fiscal space available to sovereign governments. The IMF, we conclude, continues to compare unfavourably to other multilateral institutions, warranting enhanced scrutiny by organs of the UN Human Rights Council and by human rights NGOs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the Malaysian prime minister's inaugural visit to China in April 2023, Anwar Ibrahim proposed the idea of establishing an Asian Monetary Fund (AMF), an idea that had previously been proposed at the height of the 1997 Asian financial crisis. The proposal in 1997 was due to frustration with the performance of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Today, it is identified, together with de-dollarization, as part of efforts to reshape the global order. This paper explores the factors driving countries towards initiatives like the AMF and de-dollarization, and their prospects of successfully transforming the existing global order. This paper finds that initiatives such as the AMF and de-dollarization are driven by multiple factors, which include achieving monetary autonomy, and for a few, geostrategic objectives. This study argues that instead of replacing the liberal international order, the objective of the countries seeking change through the AMF or de-dollarization is to strengthen their voices in the international system by reducing those of the US. Nevertheless, these initiatives are hampered because they lack the qualities that give shape to and maintain the architecture of the international order: power and legitimacy. This study concludes that both initiatives are unlikely to significantly reshape the global order. De-dollarization still has a long way to go before it can displace the dollar in the global economy. Likewise, the establishment of the AMF may not in the end reshape the global order but could instead complement the existing one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When countries are confronted with a crisis and have no alternative but to turn to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), speed is of the essence. Why do some countries negotiate IMF loans more quickly than others? We introduce an original dataset on the timing and intensity of negotiations between the borrowing government and IMF staff for more than 700 IMF loans agreed between 1985 and 2020. Applying concepts from this special issue on the "Power of the Weak" (Snidal et al., 2024), we argue that although borrowing countries are in a weak position when they approach the IMF, they nonetheless sometimes achieve more rapid negotiations. In particular, we argue that borrowers can obtain speedier negotiations on the basis of their ties to major IMF shareholder states, specifically through shared membership in other international organizations and financial exposure. Importantly, we suggest that well-placed borrowers can hasten the conclusion of negotiations without compromising on the conditions attached to IMF programs. We use our original data and an illustrative case study of Côte d'Ivoire to support our claims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a recession in the global economy since its onset at the end of 2019. According to the International Monetary Fund's World Economic Outlook report issued in October 2021, the global real GDP growth rate for 2019 was 2.9, then declined and reached -3. The BRICS organisation is a major player in the global economy, and Algeria's application to join it was recently rejected, Therefore, this study aims to discuss the impact of the pandemic on the real GDP of these countries by examining the variables during the pandemic period and the relationship between them, as the study concluded that it had a negative impact as a consequence of the lockdown decision more than being affected by the percentage of deaths from Covid-19 by relying on annual real GDP data and the annual incidence and mortality rate per million population for the countries under study during the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the impact of International Monetary Fund (IMF)-linked conditionality on government education expenditures in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Understanding the impact of conditional lending by international financial institutions on education spending is important due to the pivotal role education plays in fostering social and economic development. We use country-level panel data encompassing a representative set of 10 MENA countries from 1990 to 2020 and employ a cross-national fixed effects regression model. Our findings suggest that IMF conditionality demonstrates a positive relationship with government education expenditures in the MENA region. The proposed explanation is that the application of IMF policy advice can have a catalytic effect on donor financing, including for education. This indicates that the Fund's financing arrangements in the region can free up fiscal space for social spending, which, in turn, signals a sort of departure of the IMF from the reputation that typically precedes it—its traditional bias for macroeconomic stability irrespective of social costs. We argue that our findings are instructive for policy, especially if one shares the idea that education is a necessary prerequisite for achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4: guaranteeing inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting enduring learning opportunities for all. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Direito e Práxis is the property of Editora da Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (EdUERJ) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Objective: The objective of the article is to investigate the suitability of the European Union (EU) convergence criteria as an evaluative instrument in assessing its progression from the monetary union (MU) to the fiscal union (FU). The secondary aim was to propose a list of 'fiscal confluence criter ia' as a foundation for evaluating member states' ability to adhere to the fiscal union. Research Design & Methods: A quantitative research methodology was employed, using eight indicators and three distinct methods (Euclidean distance, standardized sums, Technique for Order Preference and Similarity to Ideal Solution) to create a joint development measure, known as the core measure, for each group: CMMU and CMFU. I employed Spearman's - to calculate the rank correlation between Monetary and fiscal union. The research sample comprised all 27 European Union member states (EU MS). I sourced the datasets from reputable databases, namely Eurostat, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank (WB), and Accounting for Transparency (AFT). Findings: The integrity level of the EU member states falls notably below the established thresholds. There are significant discrepancies between the countries. Consequently, the possibility of the EU attaining the next level of integration (FU) in the foreseeable future is limited. Implications & Recommendations: Given the obvious limitations on the ability of EU member states to pursue further integration in the immediate future, policymakers, and business entities within the EU should prioritize maintaining the agreement in its current form (Economic and monetary union). Further research should immediately concentrate on the causes and remedies of rising Euroscepticism in EU MS. Contribution & Value Added: This research offers valuable insights into the potential for further integration within the EU. Moreover, it initiates a discourse on the formulation of new criteria for the next level of integration (fiscal union). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the important role of women in European security, specifically in Ukraine. It discusses how the war in Ukraine is deeply influenced by gender, with gender rights being a significant issue. The article also addresses the declining population in Ukraine and the significance of women's labor in the Ukrainian and European economies. It criticizes the recovery plans in Ukraine for disadvantaging women and advocates for greater inclusion of women in recovery and peace planning. The article concludes by emphasizing the need for well-designed policies to enhance security by addressing the challenges faced by women. Additionally, the text examines the impact of International Financial Institutions (IFIs) on war-torn countries' recovery, focusing on the Western Balkans as an example. It highlights the neglect of feminist political economists' perspectives and the failure of IFIs to address gender inequalities. The low labor participation of women in the region, along with issues like women trafficking and violence against women, are also discussed. The text emphasizes the need for strategic public investment in foundational sectors to reverse these trends and stresses the importance of addressing gender equity. [Extracted from the article]

The "Glossary" from the Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies provides definitions and explanations of various terms and abbreviations related to the Indonesian economy. It includes terms such as GDP, FDI, CPI, and organizations like the IMF and ASEAN. The glossary also covers political parties, government agencies, and economic models used in Indonesia. [Extracted from the article]

While the important role of financial development for economic growth, as well as for its effect on economic inequality, has been widely acknowledged by the literature, far less attention has been put on understanding how growth and inequality may be differently influenced by alternative types of financial development. Against this background, we investigate the impact of different types of financial development on the growth–inequality nexus with a panel of 110 advanced and emerging economies and yearly data ranging from 1980 to 2016. Using the panel conditionally homogeneous vector-autoregressive (PCHVAR) model of Georgiadis (2014) ; Georgiadis (2012) , we find that the overall level of financial development (measured by the International Monetary Fund (IMF)'s financial development index) has a significant impact on the growth–inequality nexus. Specifically, our results reveal that a higher level of overall financial development results in more equitable economic growth. Furthermore, an increase in the income share of the top 10% income earners has a significant negative impact on economic growth for low and high levels of overall financial development but is insignificant for middle levels. By looking at more disaggregated subindices of financial development, we find that economic growth increases the income share of the low 10% income earners when financial institutions and markets are deeper and financial markets are more efficient. Thus, our results call for a more differentiated view on the concept of financial development in order to derive policy measures aimed at different parts of the society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents novel estimates of foreign holdings using a consolidated-by-nationality approach for a sample of 14 developed countries over multiple years. This approach provides an alternative for policymakers and researchers to analyse international exposure that complements the existing approach based on residence-based data. Two main advantages of the nationality-based approach are that it looks through corporate structures of multinational enterprises and considers local positions. The resulting novel data show that aggregate international financial integration is larger than residence-based data indicate for the sample. These data are used to analyse (i) profit-shifting activities and (ii) spillovers from United States monetary policy shocks. This study presents evidence suggesting that nationals of relatively high-tax countries may shift assets to low-tax countries in ways not fully captured in residence-based statistics. It also shows that a tightening in United States monetary policy is associated with a decline in foreign asset holdings by non-financial multinational enterprises using the consolidated-by-nationality approach. These findings underscore the relevance of using the consolidated-by-nationality approach to evaluate policy-relevant questions. Keywords : consolidated-by-nationality statistics, financial globalization, international financial integration, policy spillovers, residence-based statistics, tax differentials JEL classification codes : F21, F23, F36, F41, F42, 1. Introduction How can policymakers assess the exposure that a country's households and firms have to international risk factors? The conventional approach uses data on countries' foreign holdings. These data [...]

Djibril Diop Mambety's 1994 film Le Franc explores experiences of disruption and powerlessness caused by monetary devaluation. This paper examines the cinematic grammars of Mambety's film as they relate to currency devaluation. The CFA franc was devalued by 50 percent on January 12, 1994. The devaluation, imposed on countries in the franc zone, represents an instrument of financial control that restrains their monetary sovereignty, perpetuating vestiges of imperialism. Analyzing Mambety's cinematic language, I offer a reading of his film through these economic structures. He works against the forms of temporal disruption introduced by processes of financialization in general and by the devaluation in particular. Ultimately, by embracing the future-past tense, Mambety reaches into a future that has still yet to come, wresting comedy and even hope out of intolerable economic and social realities and offering a radical vision of possibility in the midst of degradation., On January 12, 1994, without any prior warning, the CFA franc was devalued by 50 percent. The devaluation and its reverberating consequences became the historical backdrop in which the final [...]

This article examines the issue of international cooperation on the platform of selected international organizations during the late Stalin era at the beginning of the Cold War, approximately between 1947 and 1953. A number of historians such as Kaplan and Prucha in their monographs highlight the flows of information, capital and technology solely within the Eastern Bloc, but as the newly accessible UN archives in Geneva reveal, even the period of Stalin's strongly authoritarian rule was characterized by hitherto under-appreciated cross-Curtain ties instrumental in forging diplomatic dialogue, trade and scientific-technical cooperation. The present article analyses these ties on the platform of selected international organizations, namely the UN Economic Commission for Europe and the International Monetary Fund. The selection of these organizations was not arbitrary. Preliminary research of their archival material has outlined their crucial role in the formation of inter-bloc dialogue at the turn of the 1940s and 1950s. The present paper devotes particular attention to the role of Czechoslovakia and its delegates on the above-mentioned platforms. It turns out that it was Czechoslovakia that was able to emerge as an actor mediating and proactively shaping East-West dialogue and different cooperation projects. Although this Central European state was part of the Eastern Bloc, the strong traditional ties of Czechoslovak diplomacy and economy to Western Europe were not completely deconstructed at the beginning of the Cold War, thus enabling Czechoslovakia to become an imaginary bridge between the two halves of the Iron Curtain.

Abstract Background Countries in the Global South are currently facing momentous economic and social challenges, including major debt service problems. As in previous periods of global financial instability, a growing number of countries have turned to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for financial assistance. The organization has a long track-record of advocating for extensive fiscal consolidation—commonly known as ‘austerity’—for its borrowers. However, in recent years, the IMF has announced major initiatives for ensuring that its loans support social spending, thus aiding countries in meeting their development targets and the Sustainable Development Goals. To assess this track record, we collected spending data on 21 loans signed in the 2020–2022 period, including from all their periodic reviews up to August 2023. Results We find that austerity measures remain a core part of the organization’s mandated policies for its borrowers: 15 of the 21 countries studied here experience a decrease in fiscal space over the course of their IMF programs. Against this fiscal backdrop, social spending floors have failed to live up to their promise. There is no streamlined definition of these floors, thus rendering their application haphazard and inconsistent. But even on their own terms, these floors lack ambition: they often do not foresee trajectories of meaningful social spending increases over time, and, when they do, many of these gains are eaten up by soaring inflation. In addition, a third of social spending floors are not implemented—a much lower implementation rate from that for austerity conditions, which the IMF prioritizes. In several instances, where floors are implemented, they are not meaningfully exceeded, thus—in practice—acting as social spending ceilings. Conclusions The IMF’s lending programs are still heavily focused on austerity, and its strategy on social spending has not represented the sea-change that the organization advertised. At best, social spending floors act as damage control for the painful budget cuts: they are instruments of social amelioration, underpinned by principles of targeted assistance for highly disadvantaged groups. Alternative approaches rooted in principles of universalism can be employed to build up durable and resilient social protection systems.

The U.S. government uses its voting power to direct IMF loans to countries where U.S. banks are exposed to sovereign default (a de facto bailout). This effect is stronger in years when the costs of direct bailouts are higher and is also found among major European IMF members. We find that de facto bailouts reduce government incentives to default and that U.S. Congressional voting on IMF funding is consistent with a private interest view of government. Overall, we identify an alternative mechanism through which governments can backstop the losses of large multinational banks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Where did Ecuador’s foreign debt originate and grow to alarming levels? The purpose of this article is to describe, from an analytical perspective based on the contributions of various authors, the origin of Ecuador’s external debt with international institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, as well as the support that these organizations provide for the development of the countries of the South, case Ecuador. To achieve this purpose, a documentary methodology was implemented that included an exhaustive review of studies focused on the specific variables subject to analysis, the PRISMA tool and Atlas.ti 23 were used. The results show that the creation of these financing agencies in their attempt to support the financial stability of developing countries has not been sufficiently effective in improving the welfare conditions of a good percentage of the population and has generated an imbalance in the sustained development of the poorest countries. It is concluded that the capitalist system gives predominant priority to the economic growth of nations, thus relegating in its model the consideration of human development. This orientation does not contribute effectively to the improvement of crucial aspects such: education, health and the standard of living of the population.