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Hierarchies of expertise and the early days of research at the World Bank

Christina Laskaridis

Journal of Economic Methodology2025https://doi.org/10.1080/1350178x.2025.2494572article
AJG 2ABDC B
Weight
0.37

Abstract

While there has been no shortage of recent work that has tried to understand the power of economists and prevalence of economic mode of thinking, far less has been said about the instances where economists were unable to exert influence. While power struggles between economists have most often been the subject of investigation within the academe, the struggle for influence for different types of economic expertise within policy institutions is understudied. This paper examines the different understandings of debt repayment prospects that developed in the World Bank during its first twenty years of operation. The organisation’s internal structure reflected conflicts between different departments that left economists in the research department in the weaker position. Economists’ epistemic authority is intimately related to the organisation of expertise and the alignment to management’s objectives, as well as formality of economists’ tools.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1080/1350178x.2025.2494572

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@article{christina2025,
  title        = {{Hierarchies of expertise and the early days of research at the World Bank}},
  author       = {Christina Laskaridis},
  journal      = {Journal of Economic Methodology},
  year         = {2025},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1080/1350178x.2025.2494572},
}

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Evidence weight

0.37

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.16 × 0.4 = 0.06
M · momentum0.53 × 0.15 = 0.08
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.