The reading this week, to me, illustrates a perfect example of preconceived notions being carried throughout time and having a huge effect. Stuckler and Basu do a pretty great job- and convincing one- of illustrating how the IMF’s policies failed Greece and how a departure from austerity helped Iceland. However, the IMF reacts like a school kid caught in web of lies- they just keep making it worse by sticking to their original policies.
I’m not so into conspiracy theories like James is, so I don’t believe the IMF is recommending their policies in order to cause harm, or because they don’t care about lower-class segments of the population. I think the IMF really just believes in their policies and are blind to the evidence because of their preconceived notions. What needs to happen is the field of policy advising needs to become more scientific- in the sense where recommendations are based on real trial and error, as opposed to intuition and old practices.
