Social Unrest in the Wake of IMF Structural Adjustment Programs

25 Pages Posted: 1 May 2013

See all articles by Caleb Stroup

Caleb Stroup

Davidson College

Ben Zissimos

Vanderbilt University - College of Arts and Science - Department of Economics

Date Written: April 30, 2013

Abstract

This paper proposes an answer to the question of why social unrest sometimes occurs in the wake of an IMF Structural Adjustment Program (SAP). Under certain circumstances, partly determined by a country’s comparative advantage, a nation’s elite may have an incentive to make transfers to the rest of society through government employment in order to quell social unrest. But under an SAP, the elite are constrained from making such transfers and consequently social unrest may arise. The paper proposes a framework from which a prediction can be made about the circumstances under which social unrest can be expected to occur. It then takes this prediction to the data and finds empirical support for it.

Keywords: institutions, International Monetary Fund (IMF), social unrest, structural adjustment, trade integration

JEL Classification: D300, D740, F100, O120, P140

Suggested Citation

Stroup, Caleb and Zissimos, Ben, Social Unrest in the Wake of IMF Structural Adjustment Programs (April 30, 2013). CESifo Working Paper Series No. 4211, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2258403 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2258403

Caleb Stroup

Davidson College ( email )

United States

HOME PAGE: http://sites.google.com/site/calebstroupeconomics

Ben Zissimos (Contact Author)

Vanderbilt University - College of Arts and Science - Department of Economics ( email )

Box 1819 Station B
Nashville, TN 37235
United States

HOME PAGE: http://www.vanderbilt.edu/econ/cv/ZissimosCV.pdf

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