The notion that the international monetary system is hierarchical has become increasingly common, but nature, causes, and shape of hierarchy remain vague. In this article, we develop a theory based on “key currency” approach. We perceive as world-spanning payment inherently because it needs central nodes for clearing settlement. centrality US-Dollar (USD) global key currency places US at apex m...

Background: The potentially destructive polarisation between 'vertical' financing (aiming for disease-specific results) and 'horizontal' financing (aiming for improved health systems) of health services in developing countries has found its way to the pages of Foreign Affairs and the Financial Times. The opportunity offered by 'diagonal' financing (aiming for disease-specific results through im...

In the wake of the global financial crisis much attention has been devoted to the role of complexity of bank linkages in the transmission of shocks. We shed light on this issue using a rich dataset on international syndicated bank lending matched with bank financial information. To study how financial crises spread through the global banking network, we distinguish among channels such as banks'...

Much has been said about the failing policies of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In this essay, I attempt to explain why the IMF has pursued policies that in many cases not only failed to promote the stated objectives of enhancing growth and stability, but were probably counterproductive and even flew in the face of a considerable body of theoretical and empirical work that suggested the...

© Institute for International Economics. All rights reserved. John Williamson, senior fellow since 1981, was on leave as chief economist for South Asia at the World Bank during 1996-99. He was a professor of economics at Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (1978-81), University of Warwick (1970-77), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1967, 1980), University of York (1963-68),...

How has the Fund institutionalized independent evaluation as a means of assessing its performance? This paper process-traces the contentious creation of the Fund’s Independent Evaluation Office (IEO). I use primary interviews conducted at the Fund headquarters in 2008–2010 and Fund archive documents dating back to the beginning of the debate over independent evaluation in 1992 to analyze the in...

BACKGROUND Previous studies have indicated that International Monetary Fund (IMF) economic programs have influenced health-care infrastructure in recipient countries. The post-communist Eastern European and former Soviet Union countries experienced relatively similar political and economic changes over the past two decades, and participated in IMF programs of varying size and duration. We empir...

To understand what happened in Argentina we need to look to the economic reforms that nearly all Latin America undertook in the ’80s. Countries emerging from years of poverty and dictatorship were told that democracy and the markets would bring unprecedented prosperity. And in some countries, such as Mexico, the rich few have benefi ted. More broadly, though, economic performance has been disma...

Decades of underinvestment in public sectors and in teachers and health workers have adversely affected the health and educational outcomes of women. This is partly explained by a general lack of resources. However, the amount a country can spend on social sectors, including teachers and health workers, is also determined by its macroeconomic framework, which is set in agreement with the Intern...