Implications, Extensions, and Speculations

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen C. Nelson
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Organizational Culture ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
International Political Economy ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Systematic Variation ◽  
Economic Beliefs ◽  
Two Sides ◽  
The Imf

This book has argued that neoliberal economic beliefs are embedded in the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) organizational culture. It has advanced a framework with pathways showing how these neoliberal ideas shared by IMF decision makers and by policymakers in borrowing governments are linked to variation in the relations between the two sides. It has provided empirical evidence supporting its claim that shared economic beliefs are indeed a powerful explanatory factor. This concluding chapter first review the book's ideational argument and compares it to the sources of systematic variation in IMF-borrower relations. It then analyzes the context for the resurgence of the IMF since 2008 and provides some preliminary statistical evidence suggesting that the IMF is still “playing favorites” when it comes to its conditional lending programs. Finally, it discusses the implications of the book's argument and findings for the study of international political economy and international organizations.

Understanding the IMF and Its Borrowers

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen C. Nelson
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Culture ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Shared Beliefs ◽  
Core Elements ◽  
Economic Beliefs ◽  
Conditional Lending ◽  
Loan Size ◽  
The Imf

This book examines the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) conditional lending, and particularly why each of the three core elements of its lending arrangements—the amount of credit granted to borrowing governments, the number of conditions attached to the loans, and the rigor with which the conditions are enforced—vary significantly. Drawing on both theory and evidence, it shows that shared economic beliefs strongly influence the character of the IMF's relations with its borrowers. The book argues that economic policymakers at both the international and domestic levels rely on shared economic beliefs for guidance in the presence of uncertainty, and that the IMF decision makers' neoliberal ideas are deeply embedded in the organizational culture. It also discusses three testable mechanisms linking shared beliefs to variations in loan size, conditionality, and enforcement. Finally, it explains how the IMF, through its conditional lending programs, influences who governs the economy.

scholarly journals Political Economy of Cross-Strait Relations

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 136-147
Author(s):  
Ekaterina Oganesovna Nakhatakyan
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Bilateral Trade ◽  
International Political Economy ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Economic Cooperation ◽  
Economic Factors ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
Political Cycle ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Two Sides

The article provides a comprehensive analysis of the interrelation of political and economic factors in Cross-Strait relations. The main political factor considered in the study is the policy of the ruling party in Taiwan towards the Mainland, its acceptance of Beijings One China policy and 1992 Consensus, put forward by Mainland China as a political basis for building Cross-Strait dialogue between the parties. Key economic factors include economic cooperation and exchanges between the two sides in such fields as bilateral trade, international capital flows and tourism. The relevance of the study refers to the settlement of the so-called Taiwan issue and the implementation of the complete reunification of the Peoples Republic of China that embodies one of the fundamental interests of Mainland China. The aim of the research is to examine the impact of political cycle in Taiwan on the economic cooperation between Beijing and Taipei, the further intensification of which could lead to the peaceful reunification through economic integration. The study provides a broad overview of the development of relations between Taiwan and Mainland China, focusing on the policies of the Taipei administrations from 1949 to 2019 and its impact on economic cooperation between the two sides. The methodological framework of the paper is mainly based on international political economy. The results of the research suggest that political cycle in Taiwan has almost no impact on Cross-Strait trade and investment. Meanwhile it has quite significant influence on Cross-Strait tourism, especially from the PRC, as it has the administrative means of regulation of the number of Mainland tourists wishing to visit Taiwan.

Meaning of International Order and Evidence on Revisionism

2021 ◽  
pp. 72-115
Author(s):  
Steve Chan ◽  
Huiyun Feng ◽  
Kai He ◽  
Weixing Hu
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
International Political Economy ◽  
The United States ◽  
International Order ◽  
The Other ◽  
Militarized Disputes ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Multilateral Treaties

“Revisionism” is supposed to mean a rejection of the existing international order. Yet the meaning of international order has been underdeveloped in current research. This chapter delineates this idea, relying on the English school’s writings. It distinguishes the primary and secondary institutions of international order and introduces a collection of indicators to track and measure Chinese and US commitment to two aspects of international order: one that is norm-based and the other that is rule- or institution-based. These indicators encompass these countries’ official pronouncements, their involvement in wars and militarized disputes, their engagement in international political economy, and their participation in international organizations and multilateral treaties. The evidence shows that, contrary to customary depiction, the United States has become more revisionist over time and according to some measures, more so than China.

The IMF and the Politics of Austerity in the Wake of the Global Financial Crisis

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Clift
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Economic Policy ◽  
Fiscal Policy ◽  
Financial Crisis ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
International Political Economy ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Advanced Economy ◽  
The Global Financial Crisis ◽  
The Imf

The book provides a path-breaking comprehensive analysis of how the IMF approach to fiscal policy has evolved since 2008, the Fund’s role within the politics of austerity, and how it worked to shape advanced economy policy responses to the global financial crisis (GFC) and the Eurozone crisis. The book aligns with and advances cutting-edge ideational scholarship in international political economy (IPE) and comparative political economy (CPE) to build an innovative theorizing of how ideational change operates in international organizations (IOs). The construction of economic policy knowledge is understood here as a social process, wherein the IMF works to impress its interpretation of sound policy upon member countries through surveillance and other interactions. It updates and refines our understanding of how the IMF seeks to wield ideational power by analysing the Fund’s post-crash ability to influence what constitutes legitimate knowledge, and their ability to fix meanings attached to economic policies. This book is interested in the politics of economic ideas, focused on the assumptive foundations of different approaches to economic policy, and how the interpretive framework through which authoritative voices evaluate economic policy is an important site of power in world politics. After establishing the internal conditions of possibility for new fiscal policy thinking to emerge and prevail, detailed case studies of IMF interactions with the UK and French governments during the Great Recession drill down into how the Fund seeks to shape the policy possibilities of advanced economy policymakers and account for the scope and limits of Fund influence.

Conclusion—IMF Intellectual Authority and the Politics of Economic Ideas after the Crash

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Clift
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Economic Policy ◽  
Social Construction ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Advanced Economies ◽  
The Social ◽  
Research Agendas ◽  
New Research ◽  
The Imf

The conclusion reflects on how the IMF’s post-crash rethink has sought to alter the contours of ‘sound’ economic policy. It reflects on the implications of the argument of the book as a whole about malleability of economic orthodoxy. It considers the scope and limits of the IMF authority in its dealings with advanced economies and how this authority can be constrained. Recalling the key role played in the social construction of economic orthodoxy by authoritative voices like the IMF, it considers the potential for advancing new research agendas in ideational political economy, the study of international organizations, and the politics of austerity.

How Shared Economic Beliefs Shape Loan Size, Conditionality, and Enforcement Decisions

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen C. Nelson
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Economic Beliefs ◽  
Conditional Lending ◽  
Subjective Judgments ◽  
Loan Size ◽  
Made In ◽  
The Imf

This chapter examines how the economic beliefs held by the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) decision makers and the beliefs of the officials at the helm of the borrowing governments shape loan size, conditionality, and enforcement decisions. It first considers two theoretically and empirically informed observations about the IMF-borrower relationship. First, key decisions in the conditional lending process are necessarily informed by the subjective judgments of the staff and management. Second, those judgments are often made in the presence of uncertainty. The chapter then introduces a set of mechanisms that link shared economic beliefs to the measurable outputs of the decisions about each element of the conditional lending process (access, conditionality, and enforcement). It also discusses the rise of neoliberal policymakers in developing countries and why such policymakers get less demanding (and more generous) programs from the IMF.

Comparative Political Economy

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georg Menz
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
International Political Economy ◽  
Adam Smith ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Comparative Political Economy ◽  
Technological Parameters ◽  
Private Debt

This new and comprehensive volume invites the reader on a tour of the exciting subfield of comparative political economy. The book provides an in-depth account of the theoretical debates surrounding different models of capitalism. Tracing the origins of the field back to Adam Smith and the French Physiocrats, the development of the study of models of political-economic governance is laid out and reviewed. Comparative Political Economy (CPE) sets itself apart from International Political Economy (IPE), focusing on domestic economic and political institutions that compose in combination diverse models of political economy. Drawing on evidence from the US, the UK, France, Germany, Sweden, and Japan, the volume affords detailed coverage of the systems of industrial relations, finance, welfare states, and the economic role of the state. There is also a chapter that charts the politics of public and private debt. Much of the focus in CPE has rested on ideas, interests, and institutions, but the subfield ought to take the role of culture more seriously. This book offers suggestions for doing so. It is intended as an introduction to the field for postgraduate students, yet it also offers new insights and fresh inspiration for established scholars. The Varieties of Capitalism approach seems to have reached an impasse, but it could be rejuvenated by exploring the composite elements of different models and what makes them hang together. Rapidly changing technological parameters, new and more recent environmental challenges, demographic change, and immigration will all affect the governance of the various political economy models throughout the OECD. The final section of the book analyses how these impending challenges will reconfigure and threaten to destabilize established national systems of capitalism.

Patents and Development in the New Global Economy

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth C. Shadlen
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
International Political Economy ◽  
World Order ◽  
Global Politics ◽  
Pharmaceutical Patents ◽  
Key Points ◽  
Comparative Case Studies ◽  
Privately Owned

The concluding chapter reviews the main findings from the comparative case studies, synthesizes the main lessons, considers extensions of the book’s explanatory framework, and looks at emerging challenges that countries face in adjusting their development strategies to the new global economy marked by the private ownership of knowledge. Review of the key points of comparison from the case studies underscores the importance of social structure and coalitions for analyses of comparative and international political economy. Looking forward, this chapter supplements the book’s analysis of the political economy of pharmaceutical patents with discussion of additional ways that countries respond to the monumental changes that global politics of intellectual property have undergone since the 1980s. The broader focus underscores fundamental economic and political challenges that countries face in adjusting to the new world order of privately owned knowledge, and points to asymmetries in global politics that reinforce these challenges.

scholarly journals Firms in Trade and Trade Politics

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 399-417 ◽  
Author(s):  
In Song Kim ◽  
Iain Osgood
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Exchange Rates ◽  
Interest Group ◽  
Foreign Investment ◽  
International Political Economy ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
Trade Regime ◽  
Capital Movements ◽  
Trade Politics ◽  
Preference Map

We survey the literature on firms as primary actors in trade politics. In contrast with prevailing approaches, firm-centered models predict that trade internally divides industries and that larger firms are the strongest advocates for globalization. This new preference map alters extant predictions about the dynamics of interest group contestation over trade and suggests revised accounts for how political organization and institutions contribute to an open international order. We also explore the potential for new insights into the operation of the global trade regime, the politics of foreign investment, immigration and capital movements, and exchange rates. Poli-tical activities undertaken by firms are important areas for further research in international political economy: Their economic engagements directly affect the movement of goods, services, capital, and people across the globe.

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