IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cup/intorg/v39y1985i04p729-754_02.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Economic stabilization, conditionality, and political stability

Author

Listed:
  • Bienen, Henry S.
  • Gersovitz, Mark

Abstract

IMF conditionality is seldom so important that it dominates all other considerations for political stability. IMF stabilization programs often shift benefits from one group to another. They expose elites to charges of selling the sovereignty of their countries. The imposition of IMF conditions, particularly subsidy cuts, may lead to sharp outbreaks of civil disorder. Nonetheless, the IMF provides resources that make adjustment easier and thus may lessen the chances of political instability for a country. IMF programs are seldom implemented fully as negotiated, and the penalties for partial compliance are not great. Debtor countries have more flexibility in imposing austerity measures, and the economic constraints are less binding than often assumed. The very availability of alternatives to IMF programs results in internal divisions because some favor debt repudiation and others oppose it. Groups now contend over solutions to the debt problems of their countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Bienen, Henry S. & Gersovitz, Mark, 1985. "Economic stabilization, conditionality, and political stability," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 39(4), pages 729-754, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:intorg:v:39:y:1985:i:04:p:729-754_02
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0020818300027089/type/journal_article
    File Function: link to article abstract page
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Stephanie J. Rickard & Teri L. Caraway, 2019. "International demands for austerity: Examining the impact of the IMF on the public sector," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 35-57, March.
    2. Stephan Haggard & Robert Kaufman, 1989. "The Politics of Stabilization and Structural Adjustment," NBER Chapters, in: Developing Country Debt and the World Economy, pages 263-274, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Jeffrey Frankel, 2005. "Contractionary Currency Crashes In Developing Countries," CID Working Papers 117, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    4. Psofogiorgos, Nikolaos - Alexandros & Metaxas, Theodore, 2017. "IMF, Democracy and Economic Development: Review and Critique," MPRA Paper 79403, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Jin, Qichao & Sun, Lei & Chen, Yanyu & Hu, Zhao-Long, 2024. "Financial risk contagion based on dynamic multi-layer network between banks and firms," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 638(C).
    6. Jacky AMPROU, 2003. "Interest Groups and Demand for IMF Arrangements: Empirical Analysis of the Duration of Periods without Agreement between the IMF and Sub-Saharan African Countries," Working Papers 200301, CERDI.
    7. Frankel, Jeffrey, 2010. "Monetary Policy in Emerging Markets," Handbook of Monetary Economics, in: Benjamin M. Friedman & Michael Woodford (ed.), Handbook of Monetary Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 25, pages 1439-1520, Elsevier.
    8. Giga ABUSERIDZE & Inga PALIANI-DITTRICH & Moris SHALIKASHVILI & Vitolds ZAHARS, 2022. "Challenges and economic adjustment policies in the EU," Access Journal, Access Press Publishing House, vol. 3(2), pages 136-146, April.
    9. Prein, Timm M. & Scholl, Almuth, 2021. "The impact of bailouts on political turnover and sovereign default risk," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    10. Nikolaos Alexandros Psofogiorgos & Theodore Metaxas, 2017. "IMF, Democracy and Economic Development," Bulletin of Political Economy, Bulletin of Political Economy, vol. 11(1), pages 21-44, June.
    11. Stephan Haggard & Robert Kaufman, 1989. "The Politics of Stabdization and Structural Adjustment," NBER Chapters, in: Developing Country Debt and Economic Performance, Volume 1: The International Financial System, pages 209-254, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Stephen C. Nelson & Geoffrey P. R. Wallace, 2017. "Are IMF lending programs good or bad for democracy?," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 12(4), pages 523-558, December.
    13. Kern, Andreas & Nosrati, Elias & Reinsberg, Bernhard & Sevinc, Dilek, 2023. "Crash for cash: Offshore financial destinations and IMF programs," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    14. Andreas Kern & Bernhard Reinsberg & Patrick E. Shea, 2024. "Why cronies don’t cry? IMF programs, Chinese lending, and leader survival," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 198(3), pages 269-295, March.
    15. Wayne Nafziger & Juha Auvinen, 1997. "War, Hunger, and Displacement: An Econometric Investigation into the Sources of Humanitarian Emergencies," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-1997-142, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cup:intorg:v:39:y:1985:i:04:p:729-754_02. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kirk Stebbing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cambridge.org/ino .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.