IMF Technical Assistance and the Diffusion of Economic Policy, 1990–2020

• In Event: Bureaucracy and Staff of International Organizations

Abstract

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a ubiquitous actor in the diffusion of macroeconomic policy ideas, relying on its widely-perceived legitimacy to influence policymakers. Scholars have documented extensively how the organization employs coercion to influence the policy pursuits of countries via the practice of conditionality. However, an overlooked aspect of the IMF’s ability to shape domestic policy is through the mundane interactions that occur during technical assistance missions. This core function of the organisation is provided with little fanfare to countries, even when they are not experiencing economic crises. In this fashion, the IMF has delivered non-binding recommendations to central banks, finance ministries, and statistical agencies around the world. Given this significant gap, I collected archival material on IMF technical assistance, identifying the recipients, date, duration, purpose, and staffing of each mission between 1990 and 2020. I find that technical assistance underwent rapid growth over the past decade and diversified into issue areas, such as inequality and climate. The evidence suggests a new phase of IMF dominance in global economic governance, one that is cognizant of socio-ecological challenges to the world economy and based as much on soft-and-subtle forms of influence as the carrot-and-stick approach erstwhile favoured by the organisation.

Author

• Thomas Stubbs, Royal Holloway, University of London