Documents role of IMF 29 results

"Les discours, recommandations et publications sur les politiques sociales à mener en Russie de quatre organismes internationaux, la Banque mondiale, le FMI, le BIT et l'OCDE, sont analysés ici au travers de trois thèmes traités de façon récurrente depuis les débuts de la transition : le filet de protection sociale, le ciblage des prestations sociales et le désengagement des entreprises de la sphère sociale. La première de ces notions signifie pour les institutions de Bretton-Woods, à quelques nuances près, la mise en place d'un système d'accompagnement des réformes économiques destiné aux catégories de population les plus vulnérables ; elle est très critiquée par le BIT et ignorée par l'OCDE. Par ailleurs, pour le FMI et la Banque mondiale, même s'ils divergent sur les modalités pratiques de cette politique, le ciblage des prestations vers les plus pauvres doit obligatoirement compenser la réduction des dépenses sociales publiques et la privatisation d'une partie des secteurs des retraites et de la santé, qu'ils préconisent, tandis que l'OCDE ne semble guère convaincue de l'efficacité, en termes de coûts/avantages, d'allocations en espèces ou en nature réservées à certaines catégories de population. Le désengagement des entreprises de la sphère sociale est, en revanche, une option défendue par trois organismes sur quatre (seul fait exception le BIT), malgré une analyse différente des effets d'une telle mesure, notamment sur la flexibilité de l'emploi. L'influence des institutions internationales sur l'évolution des systèmes de protection sociale et d'emploi en Russie a connu un tournant avec le krach financier de 1998 : d'abord dominante, celle du FMI et de la Banque mondiale, dont les prêts deviennent moins nécessaires avec la reprise de la croissance, s'est affaiblie, au profit d'autres organismes plus soucieux de mener des actions mieux adaptées à la réalité russe."

"Nicolas Véron reviews in-depth the role played by the IMF in understanding the financial-sector dynamics of the euro-area crisis. The IMF was the first public authority to acknowledge the role of the bank-sovereign vicious circle and to articulate a clear vision of banking union as an essential policy response. At national level, the IMF's approach to the financial sector was appropriate and successful in Ireland and Spain, more limited in the Greek Stand-By Arrangement, and less compelling in Portugal."

"The focus of this paper is the need to reshape the financial assistance programmes and the related activities of the Troika in a way that would make them more socially and democratically acceptable. The starting point, therefore, is an analysis of the current role of the Troika and of each of its three constituent institutions in the framework of the financial assistance programmes.



This analysis is followed by a discussion of the new style of European interventionism embodied by the Troika with special emphasis on the democratic and social deficits by which it is marred. Next, in order to describe the effects of this European interventionist approach as practised by the Troika, the example of wage and collective bargaining policy has been selected as a specific illustration. Finally, some concrete suggestions are put forward as to how the attempt at crisis management conducted by the Troika (or its successor institutions) might be set on a policy footing inspired by a

more socially and democratically oriented political vision."

"The World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are under substantial pressure to accept more accountability under international human rights law. This book sets out the standards by which these international financial institutions are bound under international human rights law as it currently stands. Human rights law is 'living law' and has changed over time, as have international financial institutions, despite their sometimes static approach to their own mandates. However, the World Bank Group and the IMF are both starting to recognize, more and more, the relevance of human rights to the fulfillment of their respective mandates, even if they still maintain, be it to different degrees, that international human rights law is only partly applicable to them. The book argues that this position is no longer tenable and that human rights law does in fact apply to both international financial institutions. The book also includes the Guiding Principles on the World Bank Group, the International Monetary Fund and Human Rights. [Subject: International Law, Human Rights "

"Cet article analyse les constellations d'intérêts, les circulations d'experts et les va-et-vient entre le national et l'international qui ont présidé à l'écriture de plusieurs rapports clés sur le vieillissement élaborés par le Fonds monétaire international et la Banque mondiale durant la première moitié des années 1980. Cette cartographie démontre comment ces organisations multilatérales ont contribué à façonner une conception alarmiste du vieillissement et de son impact sur les systèmes de retraite afin de légitimer des réformes controversées de la sécurité sociale. De manière plus générale, cette étude de cas souligne les modalités d'action et de mobilisation de ces organisations internationales dans une période marquée par une profonde remise en cause de l'expansion de la sécurité sociale."

"The IMF makes policy recommendations to European countries through its Article IV consultations and resulting papers. This paper examines IMF policy recommendations to see whether they have contributed to the ongoing crisis in Europe, and also how they might affect other European Union goals such as those of Europe 2020, which seeks to reduce social exclusion, promote public investment in research and development, and promote employment and education.
The paper examines the policy advice given by the IMF to European Union countries in 67 Article IV agreements for the four years 2008-2011 (IMF 2012c).
Content analysis finds a consistent pattern of policy recommendations, which indicates (1) a macroeconomic policy that focuses on reducing spending and shrinking the size of government, in many cases regardless of whether this is appropriate or necessary, or may even exacerbate an economic downturn; and (2) a focus on other policy issues that would tend to reduce social protections for broad sectors of the population (including public pensions, health care, and employment protections), reduce labor's share of national income, and possibly increase poverty, social exclusion, and economic and social inequality as a result.
Europe remains mired in its second recession in three years, and the International Monetary Fund's (IMF's) most recent (October 2012) World Economic Outlook (WEO) sees its problems as perhaps the most important drag on world economic growth.
The IMF is also part of the so-called “troika” – with the European Commission (EC) and European Central Bank (ECB) that has been deciding or strongly influencing economic policy in the eurozone, as well as affecting policy in the rest of the European Union, especially since the world economic crisis and recession of 2008-2009. This paper raises questions as to whether the IMF's policy advice has contributed to the ongoing economic problems in Europe."