Mandate Matters: Evolving Views and Counter-cyclical Surprises from the World’s Newest, Southern-led, Multilateral Development Banks*

Diana Barrowclough

Review of Political Economy, 2025, vol. 37, issue 3, 965-989

Abstract: This article examines the responses of Southern-owned and led MDBs to the complex and multi-faceted shocks caused by Covid-19, through the lens of mandate and public purpose. It finds that public banks with a clear sense of this quickly met the needs of their members — flexibly switching to policies or strategies that are different from what they were designed for and what they are used to doing. It helps to have available resources; but if these are lacking political will can create them. Similarly, resources may be available but under-utilized if public purpose is unclear. These findings stem from quantitative and qualitative research into the surprisingly rapid and large-scale counter-cyclical lending by the world’s two newest MDBs and seeks lessons for the long-term lending needed for climate change adaptation and mitigation. The paper finds that the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the New Development Bank had a clear sense of what was required of them to meet their members’ needs in a time of crisis and had the space in which to provide it. These new banks provided a service that was lacking from private or commercial banks and were also more responsive and resilient than the historic global lenders of last resort.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/09538259.2025.2470192 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:revpoe:v:37:y:2025:i:3:p:965-989

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/CRPE20

DOI: 10.1080/09538259.2025.2470192

Access Statistics for this article

Review of Political Economy is currently edited by Steve Pressman and Louis-Philippe Rochon

More articles in Review of Political Economy from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().