The Analysis of Inequality in the Bretton Woods Institutions

This paper assesses the evolution of thinking, analysis, and discourse about inequality in the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund since their inception in 1944, on the basis of bibliometric analysis, a reading of the literature, and per...

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Main Author:	Ferreira, Francisco H. G.
Format:	Working Paper
Language:	English English
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2022
Subjects:	INEQUALITY WORLD BANK BRETTON WOODS INSTITUTIONS IMF DISTRIBUTION MULTILATERALISM WORLD BANK LITERATURE SURVEY
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099756508222213767/IDU0de360d49033ec04018091d908ba95ec10f7d http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37918

id	okr-10986-37918
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-379182022-08-24T05:10:40Z The Analysis of Inequality in the Bretton Woods Institutions Ferreira, Francisco H. G. INEQUALITY WORLD BANK BRETTON WOODS INSTITUTIONS IMF DISTRIBUTION MULTILATERALISM WORLD BANK LITERATURE SURVEY This paper assesses the evolution of thinking, analysis, and discourse about inequality in the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund since their inception in 1944, on the basis of bibliometric analysis, a reading of the literature, and personal experience. Whereas the Fund was largely unconcerned with economic inequality until the 2000s but has shown a rapidly growing interest since then, the Bank’s approach has been characterized by ebbs and flows, with five phases being apparent. The degree of interest in inequality in the two institutions appears to be largely determined by the prevailing intellectual profile of the topic in academic research, particularly in economics, and by ideological shifts in major shareholder countries, propagated downward internally by senior management. Data availability, albeit partly endogenous, also plays a role. Looking ahead, World Bank and International Monetary Fund researchers continue to have an important role to play, despite a much more crowded field in inequality research. The paper suggests that this role involves holding firm to an emphasis on inequality “at the bottom” and highlighting four themes that may deserve special attention. 2022-08-23T20:02:20Z 2022-08-23T20:02:20Z 2022-08 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099756508222213767/IDU0de360d49033ec04018091d908ba95ec10f7d http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37918 English en Policy Research Working Papers;10149 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Policy Research Working Paper Publications & Research
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	English English
topic	INEQUALITY WORLD BANK BRETTON WOODS INSTITUTIONS IMF DISTRIBUTION MULTILATERALISM WORLD BANK LITERATURE SURVEY
spellingShingle	INEQUALITY WORLD BANK BRETTON WOODS INSTITUTIONS IMF DISTRIBUTION MULTILATERALISM WORLD BANK LITERATURE SURVEY Ferreira, Francisco H. G. The Analysis of Inequality in the Bretton Woods Institutions
relation	Policy Research Working Papers;10149
description	This paper assesses the evolution of thinking, analysis, and discourse about inequality in the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund since their inception in 1944, on the basis of bibliometric analysis, a reading of the literature, and personal experience. Whereas the Fund was largely unconcerned with economic inequality until the 2000s but has shown a rapidly growing interest since then, the Bank’s approach has been characterized by ebbs and flows, with five phases being apparent. The degree of interest in inequality in the two institutions appears to be largely determined by the prevailing intellectual profile of the topic in academic research, particularly in economics, and by ideological shifts in major shareholder countries, propagated downward internally by senior management. Data availability, albeit partly endogenous, also plays a role. Looking ahead, World Bank and International Monetary Fund researchers continue to have an important role to play, despite a much more crowded field in inequality research. The paper suggests that this role involves holding firm to an emphasis on inequality “at the bottom” and highlighting four themes that may deserve special attention.
format	Working Paper
author	Ferreira, Francisco H. G.
author_facet	Ferreira, Francisco H. G.
author_sort	Ferreira, Francisco H. G.
title	The Analysis of Inequality in the Bretton Woods Institutions
title_short	The Analysis of Inequality in the Bretton Woods Institutions
title_full	The Analysis of Inequality in the Bretton Woods Institutions
title_fullStr	The Analysis of Inequality in the Bretton Woods Institutions
title_full_unstemmed	The Analysis of Inequality in the Bretton Woods Institutions
title_sort	analysis of inequality in the bretton woods institutions
publisher	World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate	2022
url	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099756508222213767/IDU0de360d49033ec04018091d908ba95ec10f7d http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37918
_version_	1764488126681579520

The Analysis of Inequality in the Bretton Woods Institutions

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