Recalibrating Policy Orthodoxy: The <scp>IMF</scp> Since the Great Recession

Abstract

This special issue reviews patterns of policy stability and change at the International Monetary Fund ( IMF ) since the G reat R ecession and attempts to explain their causes. The contributors show that the crisis ignited a reassessment regarding how the IMF would position itself as a pivotal player in global economic governance. Some new ideas and evidence definitely found their way into IMF decision making, but this process was often tempered by the nature of the institution and the powerful interests that control its governing structure. Where change did occur, its causal generators could be found in some combination between IMF staff politics, a string of innovations coming from academic and IMF economists, and the emerging economic powers' creative leveraging of institutional fora both within and inside the Fund.