What explains the substantial variation in the International Monetary Fund's lending policies over time and across cases? Some scholars argue that the IMF is the servant of the United States and other powerful member-states, while others contend that the Fund's professional staff acts...

[Highlights] International financial institutions have promoted financial regulatory transparency, or the publication by supervisors of financial industry data. Financial regulatory transparency enhances market stability and increases democratic legitimacy. We introduce a new index of financial...

How do economic shocks influence domestic politics? We take advantage of a surprise revaluation of the Swiss franc in early 2015 to identify the Polish citizens with clear and direct economic exposure: those repaying mortgages denominated in Swiss francs. Using original survey data collected...

What are the political consequences of monetary shocks? While theories of retrospective voting suggest that voters should punish incumbents for negative economic shocks within incumbents' control, other works suggest voters' ability and willingness to do so are limited. We examine this issue by...

How do markets discipline governments? The most direct way is through sovereign borrowing costs. Investors charge more interest when they anticipate that the risks of default increase. Where markets get their information from and how they use this information, however, is not well documented. In...