Working Paper

Do IMF and World Bank Influence Voting in the UN General Assembly?

Axel Dreher, Jan-Egbert Sturm
CESifo, Munich, 2006

CESifo Working Paper No. 1724

Using panel data for 188 countries over the period 1970-2002 this paper empirically analyzes the influence of the IMF and the World Bank on voting patterns in the UN General Assembly. Countries receiving adjustment programs and larger non-concessional loans from the World Bank vote more frequently in line with the average G7 country. The same is true for countries obtaining non-concessional IMF programs. Regarding voting coincidence with the US, World Bank (concessional and non-concessional) loans have a significant impact, while the IMF has not. These results are robust to the inclusion of control variables and method of estimation.

Keywords: IMF, World Bank, UN General Assembly, voting, aid