The analysis of inequality in the Bretton Woods institutions

Francisco Ferreira

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: This paper assesses the evolution of thinking, analysis, and discourse about inequality in the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund since their inception in 1944, on the basis of bibliometric analysis, a reading of the literature, and personal experience. Whereas the Fund was largely unconcerned with economic inequality until the 2000s but has shown a rapidly growing interest since then, the Bank’s approach has been characterized by ebbs and flows, with five different phases being apparent. The degree of interest in inequality in the two institutions appears to be largely determined by the prevailing intellectual profile of the topic in academic research, particularly in economics, and by ideological shifts in major shareholder countries, propagated downward internally by senior management. Data availability, albeit partly endogenous, also plays a role. Looking ahead, Bank and Fund researchers continue to have an important role to play, despite a much more crowded field in inequality research. I suggest that this role involves holding firm to an emphasis on inequality “at the bottom” and highlight four themes that may deserve special attention.

Keywords: inequality; World Bank; IMF; Bretton Woods institutions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B29 D30 O19 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 31 pages
Date: 2022-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ban, nep-his, nep-hpe and nep-ltv
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http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/116018/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: The Analysis of Inequality in the Bretton Woods Institutions (2022)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:116018

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