This book brings together an international team of contributors to assess the political economy of the IMF and World Bank programmes.The cutting-edge techniques of the new political economy are thus brought to bear on international issues for the first time. The book includes contributions from leading North American economists - Stephen Coate, Stephen Morris, Ravi Kanbur and Allen Drazen - as well as European-based analysts including Graham Bird and Frances Stewart.

Advocates for economic development often call for greater transparency. But what does transparency really mean? What are its consequences? This breakthrough book demonstrates how information impacts major political phenomena, including mass protest, the survival of dictatorships, democratic stability, as well as economic performance. The book introduces a new measure of a specific facet of transparency: the dissemination of economic data. Analysis shows that democracies make economic data ...

Why do governments turn to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and with what effects? This book argues that governments enter IMF programs for economic and political reasons, and finds that the effects are negative on economic growth and income distribution. By bringing in the IMF, governments gain political leverage - via conditionality - to push through unpopular policies. Note that if governments desiring conditions are more likely to participate, estimating program effects is not str...

Trades of money for political influence persist at every level of government. Not surprisingly, governments themselves trade money for political support on the international stage. Strange, however, is the tale of this book. For, in this study, legitimacy stands as the central political commodity at stake. The book investigates the ways governments trade money for favors at the United Nations Security Council - the body endowed with the international legal authority to legitimize the use o...

There is growing dissatisfaction with the economic policies advocated by the IMF and other international financial institutions - policies that have often resulted in stagnating growth, crises, and recessions for client countries. This book presents an alternative to "Washington Consensus" neo-liberal economic policies by showing that both macro-economic and liberalization policy must be sensitive to the particular circumstances of developing countries. One-size-fits-all policy prescriptio...

For decades, free trade was advocated as the vehicle for peace, prosperity, and democracy in an increasingly globalized market. More recently, the proliferation of foreign direct investment has raised questions about its impact upon local economies and politics. Here, seven scholars bring together their wide-ranging expertise to investigate the factors that determine the attractiveness of a locale to investors and the extent of their political power. Multinational corporations prefer to in...

This book provides a comprehensive review of recent economic developments in South Africa and the structural and policy challenges facing the authorities. Individual papers examine a range of topics such as unemployment and the labor market, recent trends in the private saving rate, the role of foreign direct investment in the development of South Africa’s economy, the human and economic repercussions of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, the role of fiscal policy in economic stabilization, inflation dev...

The author examines the indirect macroeconomic roots of the global financial crisis and Eurozone debt crisis: the escalation of global trade imbalances between the US and China and regional trade imbalances in the Eurozone. He provides new insights into the sources and dynamics of power and instability in the contemporary global monetary system

International migration, the movement of people across international boundaries, has enormous economic, social and cultural implications in both origin and destination countries. Using original research, this title examines the determinants of migration, the impact of remittances and migration on poverty, welfare, and investment decisions, and the consequences of brain drain, brain gain, and brain waste.

This book is the thirteenth volume in the International Papers in Political Economy (IPPE) series which explores the latest developments in political economy. A collection of eight papers, the book concentrates on the deregulation of domestic financial markets and discusses financial liberalisation in terms of its past performance, current progress and future developments. The chapters have been written by expert contributors in the field and focus on topics such as past records of financi...

This book offers detailed analysis and informed comment on the future of emerging economic policies. It is essential reading for all postgraduates and scholars looking for expert discussion and debate on the issues surrounding economic policy.

International debt relief continues to be a highly controversial subject. Although many heavily indebted poor countries have received large amounts of debt relief over the past quarter of a century, it doesn’t appear to be enough. This book examines the impact of international debt relief efforts since 1990. It assesses whether the various debt relief modalities have enhanced economic growth in eight highly indebted countries in Latin America and Africa.Dijkstra argues that fundame...