To Improve Outcomes, IMF Must Take Politics Seriously

Last year, shortly after being named managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde delivered a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations in which she noted that the fund needs to look beyond purely economic factors in evaluating issues that may threaten macroeconomic stability in borrowing countries. Unfortunately, in its handling of the Greek debt crisis, the fund failed to implement Lagarde’s more holistic approach and instead limited itself to economic considerations in addressing the country’s woes. The results so far in Greece demonstrates the urgent need for deep reforms of IMF conditionality. In particular, moving forward, the […]