📢 Finally available world-wide:
𝐀 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐮𝐭𝐬: 𝐒𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲

@ThomStubbs and I document the impact of 40 years of IMF-mandated austerity policies on the Global South.

What do we find?🧵 Austerity measures are a key feature of the post-pandemic world: half of developing country govts will be spending less in 2024 than in the 2010s.

But this image neglects that for many developing countries austerity has been 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 over the past few decades.

Since covid-19, we are often told that austerity is a thing of the past and that countries will use public spending for a just recovery

Is this actually likely? No: austerity in store for 83 countries

✅New open access article w @thomstubbs
doi.org/10.1111/1758-5…

Short thread According to luminaries of global economic governance, fiscal policy will not be the same in the aftermath of the pandemic.

Even Carmen Reinhardt has turned austerity-skeptic.

Much recent talk on whether we are entering a new or post Washington Consensus period — is the original term still relevant at all?

Sarah Babb and I explore its life and times over the past three decades in new @washingtonpost @monkeycageblog article:

washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/… Check out the — somewhat optimistic — take by the FT's Martin Sandbu on a "new Washington Consensus" that likes states, social protection and fighting inequality.

ft.com/content/3d8d22…

🎂🎂Birthday alert:

2020 marks the 30th birthday of the term Washington Consensus, coined by J Williamson to refer to "what Washington means by reform" in dev countries.

In new article, S Babb & I take stock (forthc. in Annual Rev Soc).

A thread.

PDF: bit.ly/WashCon Let's start with the basics: what was the Washington Consensus?

For supporters, it was shorthand for the list of reforms that were necessary to overcome debt problems and unlock the development potential of low- and middle-income countries.

🚨📰 Just out: "Legitimacy Challenges to the Liberal World Order: Evidence from UN Speeches"- w/ @ErikVoeten in Review of Int'l Orgs

We put current legitimacy challenges of int'l economic institutions in a half-century context.

A thread.

✅ Open access:
doi.org/10.1007/s11558… Global economic institutions currently find themselves on the firing line, whether from anti-liberal states or from populists/nationalists in liberal democracies.

But this is not the first time they have attracted intense criticism and challenges to their legitimacy.

Softening the blow of Covid-19 in low- and middle-income countries: will the IMF and World Bank make things worse?

In @LancetGH, we review policies & alternatives.

Thread on article w/ @DanielaGabor @IsabelOrtizUN @thomstubbs @martinmckee @davidstuckler
thelancet.com/journals/langl… Developing countries will face enormous economic fallout from Covid-19. Already there are massive capital outflows.

This constrains governments from spending on health systems at a time when capacity urgently needs to expand and depresses economic activity.

2/17

Fascinating new article on debt crises by @JeromeRoos: “Can’t Pay, Will Pay: Historical Change in the Management of International Debt Crises”

A short thread.

jeromeroos.com/cms/wp-content…

1/8 Pre-1980s, when countries were faced with external economic shocks, they commonly chose to pursue “a unilateral suspension of payments followed by a lengthy moratorium and an eventual settlement on debtor-friendly terms.”

Sounds alien, right?

2/8

New in @socscimed: We study the impact of IMF structural adjustment programs on health in developing countries; w/ T Forster, @thomstubbs, L King

In short: IMF programs increase neonatal mortality & lower access to health systems.

THREAD.

Open-access: doi.org/10.1016/j.socs… International organizations are broadcasting their commitment to aiding #SDG attainment. But might their actual policy advice hurt progress towards these goals? We look at the case of the #IMF.

2/9

New in AJS: "The Making of Neoliberal Globalization" w/ S Babb.

We examine the rise of Washington Consensus policies in 1980s.
The US engineered the policy agenda, but how? A nerdy thread on institutional change
Paywall: doi.org/10.1086/702900
Ungated: bit.ly/NeoliberalGlob… In 1980s, int'l orgs set up to support post-war "embedded liberal" order were refashioned to become leading promoters of neoliberalism.

We focus on the rise of "structural adjustment" at the IMF: deregulation, liberalization, & privatization mandated through IMF loans.

2/18