We analyze how the altruism of an international financial institution (IFI) towards its lowincome member countries (LICs) alters the effectiveness of its loans. We study IFI loans to a credit-constrained LIC. The IFI''s repayment policy is determined by the interplay of its concerns for the...

This paper assesses empirically the links among a country''s institutions and political environment, its implementation of IMF-supported programs, and macroeconomic performance in a sample of 197 programs approved between 1992 and 2002. We find that a stronger institutional and political...

This paper presents an analytical discussion of IMF conditionality based on the theory of special interest politics. We outline a simple political-economy model of special interest group politics, extended to include the interaction of the IMF with the government of a country making use of IMF...