IMF, Conditionality, and Intellectual Authority

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

This panel furthers our understanding of the International Monetary Fund by looking at the change at the Fund. By doing so, it addresses a couple of myths in the existing literature shedding light on the changing aspects of the Fund’s policy and norms. The four papers also cover the two main Fund activities: its intellectual authority in shaping economic ideas and its conditionality. At the level of policy advice and intellectual authority of the IMF, two papers engage in fruitful scholarly debate: Mark Hibben looks at the norm change regarding progressive taxation in service of inclusive growth and discusses key institutional variables and actors moving it from the fringes to the mainstream policy. Ben Clift and Te Anne Robles also look at ‘the change of heart’ at the Fund regarding tackling inequality. They draw our attention to the discrepancy between the rhetoric and practice. They argue that Fund’s hypocrisy may not be as organized as once assumed and similarly point to the institutional organization and mind-sets prevailing at the Fund as restraining factors for genuine change. At the level of conditionality, two remaining papers speak to the theme of inclusive growth and inequality by looking at privatization and corruption. Merih Angin, Ayse Kaya, and Saliha Metinsoy look at the impact of IMF conditions on corruption measure and argue that even though the Fund programs might reduce corruption by objective measures, they may increase perception of corruption. Merih Angin and Natalya Naqvi look at the impact of privatization of state-owned enterprises on inequality. Both papers take a disaggregated approach on conditionality and study largely neglected aspects of Fund’s conditionality, offering new insights into the IMF program impact. While showcasing methodological diversity and looking at different IMF functions such as economic intellectual authority and conditionality, papers coalesce on the themes of inclusive growth and (in)equality in light (or the shadow) of the IMF.

Sub Unit

• Division 16: International Political Economy

Chair

• J. Lawrence Broz University of California, San Diego

Discussants

• Erica R Gould Stanford University

• Randall W. Stone University of Rochester

Individual Presentations

• An IMF Norm Tipping Point? The Emerging Fund Consensus for Progressive Taxation - Mark Hibben, Saint Joseph's College of Maine

• The IMF Conditionality and Corruption - Merih Angin, Koç University; Ayse Kaya, Swarthmore College; Saliha Metinsoy, University of Groningen

• The Distributional Effects of Privatization in IMF Programs - Natalya Naqvi, London School of Economics; Merih Angin, Koç University

• Descriptive Representation in International Organizations: The Effect of Governance Reform on IMF Legitimacy - Dimitar D Gueorguiev, Syracuse University; Daniel McDowell, Syracuse University; David A. Steinberg, Johns Hopkins University; S. Erdem Aytaç, Koç University