Editing International Monetary Fund (section)

===Reform===

====Function and policies====
The IMF is only one of many [[international organisations]], and it is a generalist institution that deals only with macroeconomic issues; its core areas of concern in [[developing countries]] are very narrow. One proposed reform is a movement towards close partnership with other specialist agencies such as [[UNICEF]], the [[Food and Agriculture Organization]] (FAO), and the [[United Nations Development Programme]] (UNDP).<ref name="The End of Poverty" />

[[Jeffrey Sachs]] argues in ''[[The End of Poverty]]'' that the IMF and the World Bank have "the brightest economists and the lead in advising poor countries on how to break out of poverty, but the problem is development economics".<ref name="The End of Poverty" /> [[Development economics]] needs the reform, not the IMF. He also notes that IMF loan conditions should be paired with other reforms—e.g., trade reform in [[developed nations]], [[debt cancellation]], and increased financial assistance for investments in [[Infrastructure|basic infrastructure]].<ref name="The End of Poverty" /> IMF loan conditions cannot stand alone and produce change; they need to be partnered with other reforms or other conditions as applicable.<ref name="Lipscy 2015" />

====U.S. influence and voting reform====
The scholarly consensus is that IMF decision-making is not simply technocratic, but also guided by political and economic concerns.<ref name="Breen 2013 13">{{Harvnb|Breen|2013|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=9VmYAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA13 13]}}.</ref> The United States is the IMF's most powerful member, and its influence reaches even into decision-making concerning individual loan agreements.<ref name="Oatley&Yackee 2004">{{harvnb|Oatley|Yackee|2004}}.</ref> The U.S. has historically been openly opposed to losing what Treasury Secretary [[Jacob Lew]] described in 2015 as its "leadership role" at the IMF, and the U.S.' "ability to shape international norms and practices".<ref name="Donnan Dyer FT">{{cite web |last1=Donnan |first1=Shawn |last2=Dyer |first2=Geoff |date=17 March 2015 |title=US warns of loss of influence over China bank |url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/71e33aea-ccaf-11e4-b94f-00144feab7de.html |access-date=2 July 2015 |website=ft.com |archive-date=28 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150628160115/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/71e33aea-ccaf-11e4-b94f-00144feab7de.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Emerging markets were not well-represented for most of the IMF's history: Despite being the most populous country, China's vote share was the sixth largest; Brazil's vote share was smaller than Belgium's.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Vreeland |first=James Raymond |date=11 May 2019 |title=Corrupting International Organizations |journal=Annual Review of Political Science |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=205–222 |doi=10.1146/annurev-polisci-050317-071031 |issn=1094-2939 |doi-access= }}</ref> Reforms to give more powers to emerging economies were agreed by the [[G-20 major economies|G20]] in 2010. The reforms could not pass, however, until they were ratified by the [[United States Congress]],<ref name="nyt-20140325">{{cite news |author=Jonathan Weisman |date=25 March 2014 |title=Senate Democrats Drop I.M.F. Reforms From Ukraine Aid |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/26/world/europe/senate-democrats-drop-imf-reforms-from-ukraine-aid-package.html |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |access-date=9 April 2014 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220103/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/26/world/europe/senate-democrats-drop-imf-reforms-from-ukraine-aid-package.html |archive-date=3 January 2022}}{{cbignore }}</ref><ref name="reuters-20140407">{{cite news |date=7 April 2014 |title=Britain urges U.S. Congress to stop blocking IMF reform |publisher=Yahoo |agency=Reuters |url=https://news.yahoo.com/britain-urges-u-congress-stop-blocking-imf-reform-164902678--business.html |access-date=9 April 2014 |archive-date=13 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140413150708/http://news.yahoo.com/britain-urges-u-congress-stop-blocking-imf-reform-164902678--business.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="reuters-20140409">{{cite news |last1=Hughes |first1=Krista |date=9 April 2014 |title=Australia treasurer 'disappointed' at U.S. impasse on IMF reform |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/imf-australia-idUSW1N0LW01320140409 |url-status=live |access-date=9 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140410085237/http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/09/imf-australia-idUSW1N0LW01320140409 |archive-date=10 April 2014 }}</ref> since 85% of the Fund's voting power was required for the reforms to take effect,<ref name="IMF 2010 acceptance">{{Cite web |title=Acceptances of the Proposed Amendment of the Articles of Agreement on Reform of the Executive Board and Consents to 2010 Quota Increase |url=https://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/misc/consents.htm |access-date=9 July 2015 |website=imf.org |archive-date=29 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150629054230/http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/misc/consents.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> and the Americans held more than 16% of voting power at the time.<ref name="IMF members" /> After repeated criticism,<ref>{{cite news |last1=Talley |first1=Ian |date=14 April 2014 |title=The Wall Street Journal |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303887804579501252344303012 |via=online.wsj.com |access-date=2 September 2017 |archive-date=8 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161208081218/http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303887804579501252344303012 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Bberg veto">{{Cite news |last1=Mayeda |first1=Andrew |date=12 May 2015 |title=Obama Seeks to Keep IMF Veto as China Influence Is Expanded |website=bloomberg.com |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-12/obama-administration-said-to-reject-plan-that-threatens-imf-veto |access-date=9 July 2015 |archive-date=12 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150712212158/http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-12/obama-administration-said-to-reject-plan-that-threatens-imf-veto |url-status=live }}</ref> the U.S. finally ratified the voting reforms at the end of 2015.<ref>{{Cite web |date=18 December 2015 |title=IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde Welcomes U.S. Congressional Approval of the 2010 Quota and Governance Reforms |url=https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2015/09/14/01/49/pr15573 |access-date=25 July 2017 |website=imf.org |archive-date=8 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170708142913/https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2015/09/14/01/49/pr15573 |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[OECD]] countries maintained their overwhelming majority of voting share, and the U.S. in particular retained its share at over 16%.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Weisbrot |first1=Mark |author-link=Mark Weisbrot |last2=Johnston |first2=Jake |year=2016 |title=Voting Share Reform at the IMF: Will it Make a Difference? |url=http://cepr.net/images/stories/reports/IMF-voting-shares-2016-04.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160528013819/http://cepr.net/images/stories/reports/IMF-voting-shares-2016-04.pdf |archive-date=28 May 2016 |access-date=25 July 2017 |publisher=[[Center for Economic and Policy Research]] |location=Washington, DC }}</ref>

The criticism of the American- and European-dominated IMF has led to what some consider "disenfranchising the world" from the governance of the IMF. [[Raúl Prebisch]], the founding secretary-general of the [[UN Conference on Trade and Development]] (UNCTAD), wrote that one of "the conspicuous deficiencies of the general economic theory, from the point of view of the periphery, is its false sense of universality".<ref>{{cite book |author=Dosman, J. Edgar |title=The Life and Times of Raúl Prebisch, 1901-1986 |publisher=McGill-Queen University Press, Montreal |year=2008 |pages=248–249 }}</ref>