IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/rripxx/v20y2013i4p667-686.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Bureaucratic imperatives and policy outcomes: The origins of World Bank structural adjustment lending

Author

Listed:
  • Patrick Sharma

Abstract

Although the impact of World Bank and IMF structural adjustment loans on developing country borrowers has been the subject of considerable analysis, our understanding of the origins of these operations remains poor. This article rectifies this deficiency by providing an account of the genesis of the Bank's program of structural adjustment. Drawing on documents from the Bank's archives as well as interviews with former Bank officials, the paper argues that the creation of structural adjustment lending in 1980 resulted from frustration among the Bank's senior management at the slow disbursement of the organization's regular project loans. Rather than a reaction to demands from powerful states, as many observers have assumed, structural adjustment was an internally driven response to flaws in the Bank's operations. In emphasizing the Bank's autonomy, this article supplements approaches that emphasize the importance of budget maximization and mission creep as determinants of international organization behavior.

Suggested Citation

  • Patrick Sharma, 2013. "Bureaucratic imperatives and policy outcomes: The origins of World Bank structural adjustment lending," Review of International Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(4), pages 667-686, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:rripxx:v:20:y:2013:i:4:p:667-686
    DOI: 10.1080/09692290.2012.689618
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/09692290.2012.689618
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/09692290.2012.689618?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Babb, Sarah, 2009. "Behind the Development Banks," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9780226033648, November.
    2. repec:ucp:bkecon:9780226033655 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Christoph Knill & Louisa Bayerlein & Jan Enkler & Stephan Grohs, 2019. "Bureaucratic influence and administrative styles in international organizations," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 83-106, March.
    2. Alice Iannantuoni & Charla Waeiss & Matthew S. Winters, 2021. "Project design decisions of egalitarian and non-egalitarian international organizations: Evidence from the Global Environment Facility and the World Bank," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 16(2), pages 431-462, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Axel Dreher & Valentin F. Lang & B. Peter Rosendorff & James Raymond Vreeland, 2018. "Buying Votes and International Organizations: The Dirty Work-Hypothesis," CESifo Working Paper Series 7329, CESifo.
    2. Kogut, Bruce & Macpherson, J. Muir, 2011. "The mobility of economists and the diffusion of policy ideas: The influence of economics on national policies," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(10), pages 1307-1320.
    3. Bernhard Reinsberg & Alexander Kentikelenis & Thomas Stubbs & Lawrence King & Centre for Business Research, 2018. "The World System & the Hollowing-out of State Capacity: How Structural Adjustment Programs Impact Bureaucratic Quality in Developing Countries," Working Papers wp503, Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge.
    4. Kentikelenis, Alexander E., 2017. "Structural adjustment and health: A conceptual framework and evidence on pathways," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 187(C), pages 296-305.
    5. João Márcio Mendes Pereira, 2020. "The World Bank's ‘Assault on Poverty’ as a Political Question (1968–81)," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 51(6), pages 1401-1428, November.
    6. Lavelle, Kathryn C., 2013. "American politics, the presidency of the World Bank, and development policy," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6377, The World Bank.
    7. J. Broz, 2012. "Kathryn C. Lavelle. 2011. Legislating International Organization: The US Congress, the IMF, and the World Bank (New York, NY: Oxford University Press)," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 7(3), pages 335-338, September.
    8. Mirko Heinzel & Andrea Liese, 2021. "Managing performance and winning trust: how World Bank staff shape recipient performance," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 625-653, July.
    9. Humphrey, Chris & Michaelowa, Katharina, 2013. "Shopping for Development: Multilateral Lending, Shareholder Composition and Borrower Preferences," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 142-155.
    10. Humphrey, Chris & Michaelowa, Katharina, 2019. "China in Africa: Competition for traditional development finance institutions?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 15-28.
    11. Elizabeth Bland & Christopher Kilby, 2012. "Informal influence in the Inter-American Development Bank," Villanova School of Business Department of Economics and Statistics Working Paper Series 22, Villanova School of Business Department of Economics and Statistics.
    12. Strand, Jonathan R. & Zappile, Tina M., 2015. "Always Vote for Principle, Though You May Vote Alone: Explaining United States Political Support for Multilateral Development Loans," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 224-239.
    13. V. Antropov V. & В. Антропов В., 2019. "Многосторонние банки развития в мировой экономике: особенности деятельности и перспективы сотрудничества с Россией // Multilateral Development Banks in the World Economy: Business Specifics and Prospe," Экономика. Налоги. Право // Economics, taxes & law, ФГОБУ "Финансовый университет при Правительстве Российской Федерации" // Financial University under The Government of Russian Federation, vol. 12(1), pages 98-109.
    14. Jean Grugel & Pía Riggirozzi, 2012. "Post-neoliberalism in Latin America: Rebuilding and Reclaiming the State after Crisis," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 43(1), pages 1-21, January.
    15. Hoey, Lesli, 2017. "Reclaiming the Authority to Plan: How the Legacy of Structural Adjustment Affected Bolivia’s Effort to Recentralize Nutrition Planning," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 100-112.
    16. Christopher Humphrey, 2017. "Ruth Ben-Artzi. 2016. Regional development banks in comparison: Banking strategies versus development goals (New York, NY: Cambridge University Press)," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 12(3), pages 485-489, September.
    17. Chris Humphrey, 2017. "He who pays the piper calls the tune: Credit rating agencies and multilateral development banks," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 12(2), pages 281-306, June.
    18. Nitsan Chorev, 2013. "Restructuring neoliberalism at the World Health Organization," Review of International Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(4), pages 627-666, August.
    19. Sarah Babb, 2013. "The Washington Consensus as transnational policy paradigm: Its origins, trajectory and likely successor," Review of International Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(2), pages 268-297, April.
    20. Stubbs, Thomas H. & Kentikelenis, Alexander E. & King, Lawrence P., 2016. "Catalyzing Aid? The IMF and Donor Behavior in Aid Allocation," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 511-528.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:rripxx:v:20:y:2013:i:4:p:667-686. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/rrip20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.