This article discusses transnational professional knowledge in action and puts forward a conception of how professionals play off different forms of knowledge to provide policy solutions and, in doing so, generate markets for their services. The key concept is ‘epistemic arbitrage’—when professionals exploit opportunities between bodies of professional knowledge. Professionals mediate between knowledge pools for strategic advantage and, if successful, they can become the ‘arbiters’ on what knowledge and practices are most influential in their area of transnational governance. Organizations also have a demand for epistemic arbitrage, as it permits managers to have more influence over what knowledge is dominant and allows greater control of staff. The concept of epistemic arbitrage is situated in the relevant literature from International Relations, Organization Studies, and Sociology, and this interdisciplinary article brings them together to advance the new transnational sociology of professions. I suggest that transnationality matters for how professionals behave and one can draw a distinction between ‘thin’ transnational environments that are especially permissive of epistemic arbitrage and professional mobilization, and ‘thick’ domestic environments where professional jurisdictions can dampen epistemic arbitrage. The article outlines how transnational professionals can be understood as unique groups that have careers and operate in networks where there is a supply of, and demand for, epistemic arbitrage. It also establishes why ‘knowing well’ is crucial to those who have power in shaping how transnational issues are governed.

Epistemic arbitrage: Transnational professional knowledge in action

Organizations today operate in an increasingly complex and turbulent world in which unexpected events are omnipresent. Thus, they need to develop resilience capabilities to manage unexpected disruptions, maintain high performance, and even thrive and grow. In research, there are preliminary indications that diversity could play an important role in the development of resilience in organizations. However, although there are numerous studies on both resilience and diversity, the connection between the two constructs remains largely unexplored. Our paper aims to narrow this research gap by answering the following questions: What role does diversity play in the development of organizational resilience? What does this mean for resilience-enhancing diversity management? To answer these questions, we link existing research on elements of organizational resilience and outcomes of diversity in organizations. By developing a theoretical framework, formulating propositions, and discussing implications for further research, this paper provides a foundation for future empirical research. Moreover, it offers useful insights into the successful management of organizational resilience.

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs40685-019-0084-8.pdf

The role of diversity in organizational resilience: a theoretical framework

Who controls global policy debates on shadow banking regulation? We show how experts secured control over how issues in shadow banking regulation are treated by examining the policy recommendations of the Bank of International Settlements, the International Monetary Fund and the Financial Stability Board. The evidence suggests that IO experts embedded a bland reformism opposed to both strong and ‘light touch’ regulation at the core of the emerging regulatory regime. Technocrats reinforced each other's expertise, excluded some potential competitors (legal scholars), co-opted others (select Fed and elite academic economists), and deployed measurement, mandate, and status strategies to assert issue control. In the field of shadow banking regulation, academic economists’ influence came from their credibility as arbitrageurs between several professional fields rather than their intellectual output. The findings have important implications for how we study the relationship between IO technocrats and exp...

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Grey matter in shadow banking: international organizations and expert strategies in global financial governance

This special issue reviews patterns of policy stability and change at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) since the Great Recession and attempts to explain their causes. The contributors show that the crisis ignited a reassessment regarding how the IMF would position itself as a pivotal player in global economic governance. Some new ideas and evidence definitely found their way into IMF decision making, but this process was often tempered by the nature of the institution and the powerful interests that control its governing structure. Where change did occur, its causal generators could be found in some combination between IMF staff politics, a string of innovations coming from academic and IMF economists, and the emerging economic powers' creative leveraging of institutional fora both within and inside the Fund.

Recalibrating Policy Orthodoxy: The IMF Since the Great Recession

This article contributes to the literature on the dynamics of change and continuity in the International Monetary Fund's (IMF's) policy paradigm. The IMF embarked on a process of “streamlining conditionality” during the 2000s, but many observers have argued that the IMF's policy paradigm from the 1990s remains intact. This article examines whether the scope of the IMF's policy advice to borrowers during the Great Recession narrowed in comparison to its advice to borrowers during the heyday of the Washington consensus in the 1980s and 1990s. The article uses qualitative content analysis to establish the frequency of a series of policy dialogue indicators in four sample sets of countries requesting IMF stand-by arrangements over three decades. The evidence suggests that contemporary IMF policy advice to borrowers continues to stress the importance of fiscal consolidation, with reduced emphasis on promoting the structural economic reforms associated with the Washington consensus era.

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Back to Basics: The Great Recession and the Narrowing of IMF Policy Advice

In 2006, the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) lauded Iceland's capacity to “withstand extreme, but plausible, shocks,” which was clearly an error in judgment. After the international financial crisis hit, IMF officials bemoaned the lack of professional market skills in FSAP teams. Importing these skills was difficult given IMF staff freezes, but postcrisis FSAP continued with heightened legitimacy inside and outside the IMF. This article provides an assessment of FSAP teams, focusing on the hiring of external experts and their professional skills. We use an Optimal Matching analysis of work roles in career histories to identify differences in policy teams and external experts' attributes. The article also draws on interviews with FSAP team members from 2008 to 2013. We demonstrate that changes in professional skills and team composition are a consequence of demands for professional insulation, institutional legitimation, and a view of professionalism as transnational organizational competence.

Emelie Rebecca Nilsson

Papers

Professional Skills in International Financial Surveillance: Assessing Change in IMF Policy Teams

Embedding GroupThink: Assessing the Spread of Neoliberal Ideas and Influence