ABSTRACT
Despite the various shifts in US policy toward the multilateral development banks over the years, the basic policy formulation process has been about the same in the executive branch for three and one-half decades. The Treasury and State Department leadership usually work out their differences in private before going to the interagency bodies. State Department people say that international economic policy is too important to be left to bankers and economists. They contend that Treasury hampers US foreign policy by its clumsy treatment of other governments. The Senate Governmental Affairs Committee took the lead in assessing and recommending changes in the Executive’s plan. The Economic Policy Group was the main White House forum for economic policy formulation during the Ford and Carter administrations. The single most important factor in apportioning influence over US multilateral bank policy probably is the law and the executive orders implementing it.
