Category: FINANCIAL STABILITY

Why is the International Monetary System Hierarchical?

By Steffen Murau, Fabian Pape and Tobias Pforr The view that the international monetary system is hierarchical has become increasingly common in International Political Economy (IPE) scholarship. Yet the nature, shape, and origin of this hierarchy often remain vague, as assessments vary considerably based on the analytical starting point. For example, is it a hierarchy […]

Webinar Summary: The IMF, COVID-19 and Climate Change

By Luma Ramos Amid the worst global recession since World War II, the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) 2021 Spring Meetings debated the importance of incorporating green policies into the economic recovery. In her opening speech, the Fund’s Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva noted that the IMF has a strategic role  to play in mitigating climate change, […]

Building Back a Better Financial Safety Net

The year 2021 is year two into the most important decade of the century where drastic reductions in carbon dioxide emissions and inequalities in a manner that raises standards of living is paramount to the survival of the world’s people and planet earth itself. Yet, 2020 saw the biggest economic downturn since the Great Depression, and […]

Climate Risk and IMF Surveillance Policy: A Baseline Analysis

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been tasked with quickly devising a climate change strat­egy that helps its members meet collective climate change and development goals while maintaining financial stability. A new working paper by Luma Ramos, Corinne Stephenson, Irene Monasterolo and Kevin P. Gallagher uses textual analysis algorithms to perform a baseline analysis of […]

Assessing the IMF’s COVID-19 Priorities: Health, Support for the Vulnerable and Climate Change

By Luma Ramos The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a multilateral organization that seeks global financial stability and monetary cooperation. It has three core activities: surveillance, technical assistance, and emergency lending. Surveillance is understood as overseeing the international monetary and financial system and monitoring the economic and financial policies of its 190 member countries. The IMF’s […]

Poverty, Inequality and the IMF: How Austerity Hurts the Poor and Widens Inequality

In offering loans to developing countries in exchange for policy reforms, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) typically sets the fiscal parameters within which development occurs. Among the drivers of socio-economic development, a new working paper focuses on an important, yet insufficiently understood, international-level determinant: the spread of austerity policies to the developing world by the […]

The IMF COVID-19 Surveillance Tracker

Promoting stability on a global scale is a core component of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s mandate, and the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the financial stability of nearly every country, with  associated losses likely to surpass the 2008-09 Global Financial Crisis. Senior IMF officials have since called for “exceptional action” to […]

The IMF, COVID-19 and Climate Change

As the only global institution tasked with preventing and mitigating global financial instability, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been called upon to play a crucial role in combatting the effects of two simultaneous crises: COVID-19 and climate change. Since the inception of the crisis, the IMF has provided strong global thought leadership in stressing […]