We examine the political motivations that shape International Monetary Fund lending decisions. While we focus on the IMF’s most powerful member – the United States – we abandon the typical “national interest” reasoning in favor of a micro-incentive approach that connects the motivations of U.S. officials at the Fund to domestic politics. We argue that private actors with stakes in IMF policy communicate their goals to members of Congress via the normal political channels - voting and campaign contributions. We test this part of the argument directly. We assume that Congress, by virtue of its formal authority to rule on nearly every aspect of U.S. participation in the IMF, commands the allegiance of U.S. officials at the Fund. Having established a link between private actors and Congress, and Congress and U.S. representatives at the Fund, we test to see if IMF lending decisions are consistent with private actors’ interests. Our overall goal is to provide micro foundations for Fund decision-making.

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