The wave of neoliberal economic reforms in the developing world since the 1980s has
been regarded as the result of both severe economic crises and policy pressures from
global financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Using
comparative evidence from the initiation and implementation of IMF programs in Latin
America and Eastern Europe, From Economic Crisis to Reform shows that economic crises do
not necessarily persuade governments to adopt IMF-style economic policies. Instead,
ideology, interests, and institutions, at both the international and domestic levels,
mediate responses to such crises. Grigore Pop-Eleches explains that the IMF's response to
economic crises reflects the changing priorities of large IMF member countries. He argues
that the IMF gives greater attention and favorable treatment to economic crises when they
occur in economically or politically important countries. The book also shows how during
the neoliberal consensus of the 1990s, economic crises triggered IMF-style reforms from
governments across the ideological spectrum and how these reforms were broadly compatible
with democratic politics. By contrast, during the Latin American debt crisis, the
contentious politics of IMF programs reflected the ideological rivalries of the Cold War.
Economic crises triggered ideologically divergent domestic policy responses and democracy
was often at odds with economic adjustment. The author demonstrates that an economic
crisis triggers neoliberal economic reforms only when the government and the IMF agree
about the roots and severity of the crisis.
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations and Tables ix
List of Abbreviations xiii
Preface xv
1 Introduction 1
2 A Theoretical Approach to IMF Program 27
Initiation and Implementation Appendix to Chapter 2-Statistical Indicators and Methods
53
3 Changing Crisis "Recipes": The International Drivers of IMF Programs 66
4 Navigating External Crises: Case Study Evidence 105
5 Domestic Political Responses to Economic Crises 135
6 Domestic Crisis Politics: Case Study Evidence 174
7 The Great Reconciliation?-Latin America and the IMF in the 1990s 238
8 Theoretical Conclusions and Policy Implications 284
Appendix A Formal Model of IMF Program Initiation and Implementation 307
Bibliography 323
Index 335
344 pages, Paperback