Is Policy Ownership An Operational Concept?

April 1, 2002

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Format: Chicago

James M. Boughton, and Alex Mourmouras. Is Policy Ownership An Operational Concept?, (USA: International Monetary Fund, 2002) accessed November 21, 2024

Disclaimer: This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF.The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate

Summary

IMF lending is generally conditional on specified policies and outcomes. These conditions usually are negotiated compromises between policies initially favored by the Fund and by the country's authorities. In some cases the authorities might be satisfied enough with the outcome to take responsibility for it ("own" it) even though it was not their original preference. In other cases, they might accept the outcome only to obtain financing, in which case weak commitment might lead to poor implementation. This paper reviews the theoretical basis for the importance of ownership, summarizes what is known about its empirical effects, and suggests a strategy for strengthening it.

Subject: Banking, Financial institutions, Foreign aid, Labor, Macrostructural analysis, Multilateral development institutions, Political economy, Structural reforms

Keywords: Central bank carrying out, Common agency models, Conditionality, Country's authorities, Government decision-makers, Government failure, Government need, Government ownership, IMF, Multilateral development institutions, Ownership, Policy reaction function, Recipient country government, Recipient government, Representative government, State capture, Structural reforms, WP

Publication Details

Pages:

31
Volume:

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DOI:

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Issue:

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Series:

Working Paper No. 2002/072
Stock No:

WPIEA0722002
ISBN:

9781451849356
ISSN:

1018-5941

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