André Broome

The World Bank announced in September that it would discontinue its 'Doing Business' reports after data irregularities were uncovered. André Broome analyses why the reports were discredited and explains how countries have 'gamed' the Ease of Doing Business rankings since they were first introduced in 2005.

In the last two months, the International Monetary Fund has published two major reports examining its approach to social safety nets and social protection. André Broome analyses whether the IMF is in the process of rethinking austerity and social protection priorities in loan programmes, and what this may mean for the future of IMF lending in Europe and beyond.

From today’s vantage point the Bretton Woods Institutions appear to be permanent fixtures of the global economy, despite the rapidly shifting landscape of global economic governance. This is, perhaps, a surprising position for the International Monday Fund (the Fund) and the World Bank (the Bank) to enjoy in 2015. Throughout their 71-year history both institutions, and especially the Fund, have been the target of repeated and severe challenges to their legitimacy. This has ranged from charges that they suffer from a serious democratic deficit, to claims that they serve as agents of neo-colonialism, to being blamed for policy mistakes that have impoverished the countries they are tasked with assisting. This chorus of global discontent, which sometimes grows stronger and sometimes weaker, is one of the few dependable features of both organisations’ histories.