Do External Interventions Work? The Case of Trade Reform Conditions in IMF Supported Programs / Shang-Jin Wei, Zhiwei Zhang.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wei, Shang-Jin.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Zhang, Zhiwei.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w12667.

NBER working paper series no. w12667

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2006.

Summary:

Trade reform conditions are common in IMF supported programs. Of the 99 countries that had IMF programs during 1993-2003, 77 had conditions on trade reforms in their programs. Since the WTO has not been found especially effective in promoting trade openness for most developing countries, it is of great interest to see if the IMF has been more effective as it combines carrots and sticks not available to the WTO. Yet, the effectiveness of trade conditions in IMF programs has not been systematically studied. Using a unique dataset, this paper provides such an assessment. It finds that trade conditions are associated with an increase in trade openness on average, but the effect comes mostly from countries that, by some measure, have a high degree of "willingness to reform."

Notes:

Print version record

November 2006.