A Thousand Cuts

Reviews / Votes

In brilliant, novel detail, A Thousand Cuts provides a devastating indictment of the IMF's austerity-driven conditionality and its systemic undermining of social policies and outcomes. It should be required reading not just for scholars and policy activists, but also for IMF staff intent on substantively changing the institution's practices. * Daniela Gabor, Professor of Economics and Macro-Finance, University of the West of England * A Thousand Cuts is the most significant piece of research on austerity's pernicious effects in the Global South. Alexandros Kentikelenis and Thomas Stubbs meticulously demonstrate that budget cuts fail poorer countries time and time again. This is essential reading for anyone concerned with how the world can avoid economic mistakes of the past, and how governments can implement policies that promote social protection. * Mark Blyth, The William R. Rhodes '57 Professor of International Economics, Brown University * This carefully researched book examines more than 6,000 IMF loan documents over four decades to show convincingly that IMF conditionalities still require regressive public policies that in turn have regressive socio-economic outcomes. Such an important book must be read carefully in every national capital, and most of all in Washington, D.C. It forms the basis for arguments for major change if the IMF is to be fit for purpose in the contemporary world economy. * Jayati Ghosh, Professor of Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst * A Thousand Cuts is the first comprehensive, data-driven analysis of the outcomes of IMF lending policies. While the methodology is rigorous and writing style elegant, the conclusions are not pretty. Kentikelenis and Stubbs document the consistently devastating social consequences of ill-conceived austerity measures by the IMF. This truly original and alarming new volume is mandatory reading for anyone interested in how to build a more progressive global economic governance based on evidence over ideology. * Kevin P. Gallagher, Director of the Global Development Policy Center, Boston University * Highly recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty. * Choice * A Thousand Cuts raises important questions about the purpose of international organizations. * Lindsay R. Dolan, The Journal of Development Studies * The book weaves together a sobering analysis with a lucid and historically contextualizing narrative. It should serve as inspiration, both for researchers who want to develop and communicate robust evidence on the financial institutions that make our world, and for the policy-makers and activists who wish to transform them. * Rosie Collington, International Affairs * This adds to a rich critical literature on the IMF. This team of researchers are right at the highly critical end of that spectrum, but what this book demonstrates is that they have plenty of evidence to back up their stance and their critique. * Economic Record * These scholars already have a distinguished track record of thorough and meticulous empirical critique of the IMF. Thisimportant book continues that sustained body of excellent work evaluating IMF actions on the ground, and particularly placing in juxtaposition IMF word and deed. This adds to a rich critical literature on the IMF. This team of researchers are right at thehighly critical end of that spectrum, but what this book demonstrates is that they have plenty of evidence to back up their stance and their critique. Their fine-grained analysis of conditionality, looking at numbers of conditions, gets this critique closer to the actual politics of IMF lending and its real impacts on domestic policy autonomy. * Ben Clift, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK * A Thousand Cuts is a rigorous, detailed, and nuanced look at the effects of IMF conditionality and structural adjustment upon social policy, social outcomes, and social protection. It may prove an invaluable tool in putting political pressure upon the IMF and opposing austerity both domestically and globally. Mostimportantly, as mentioned, it lays the groundwork for future research on IMF activities and market-based policy prescriptions. * Andrew Munro, Liverpool Law Review *