Mostly Economics Podcast #25: Why the IMF Model Keeps Poor Countries Poor
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Center for Economic and Policy Research
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Oct 16, 2025, 3:01:14 PM (2 days ago) Oct 16
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to Mike Dover
In today's episode, Dean speaks to Ha-Joon Chang about why the Washington Consensus development model championed by the IMF and World Bank has failed developing countries.
This week Dean speaks to Ha-Joon Chang, Research Professor at the Department of Economics at SOAS University of London and a CEPR Senior Research Fellow, about why the Washington Consensus development model championed by the IMF and World Bank has failed developing countries. It's #IMFMeetings week in Washington, we need to take a critical look at their policies.
Chang dismantles the core assumptions of neoclassical development economics: that countries should accept existing capabilities as a given and specialize in what they're already good at. This practice locks poor countries into low-value production. He also contrasts Mexico's stagnation under NAFTA with South Korea's transformation through state-directed industrial policy. The conversation exposes how the World Bank manipulated data to falsely claim economic progress, and reveals the hypocrisy of patent monopolies during COVID-19 — when lifesaving technology wasn't shared despite public funding.
The Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) is an independent, nonpartisan think tank that was established to promote democratic debate on the most important economic and social issues that affects people's lives.
