Into the Woods: Migration and the Bretton Woods Institutions

• In Event: The Political Economy of Migration and Finance

Abstract

Many existing studies of international institutions emphasize major shareholders' strategic and special interests in explaining the behavior of an international organization. Focusing on the Bretton Woods institutions, we present a systemic theory of international institutions--Western policymakers envisioned the Bretton Woods institutions complementing one another in promoting and sustaining economic globalization. We argue that the aftermath of 1970s oil crisis prompted the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank to curb "Third-World" migration in attenuating globalization backlashes in the G5 countries, arising from global integration in trade and capital. Since migration is the most visible aspect of economic globalization, reducing migration inflows would assuage voter opposition to globalization in the developed world. Fully aware of the political need for their own electorates' support to sustain global economic integration in trade and capital, Western policymakers have decided to discard international migration as an element of the post-WWII global economic order. Our analysis of the IMF and the World Bank programs demonstrates that these institutions use their financial resources to reduce migration inflows--caused by financial crises and poverty, respectively--into wealthy developed democracies.

Authors

• Adrian J. Shin, University of Colorado, Boulder

• Merih Angin, Koç University

• Albana Shehaj, Harvard University