We find firm-level evidence that US banks receive preferential treatment in countries under IMF conditionality. We rely on investment location decisions to infer firms’ expectations about future profits and find that US firms are approximately 53 percent more likely to acquire financial firms in countries under financial conditionality. IMF programs without financial conditionality and FDI in other sectors serve as placebo tests. Financial conditionality has weak effects on investment decisions by non-US firms, which implies a political-economy interpretation. Firm-level data indicate that the distinctive behavior of US firms is not due to advantages of scale or to a US-firm fixed effect, but to US influence in the IMF. Firms from other major IMF shareholders benefit as well, but the effects are much weaker. The effects are concentrated in the politically relevant firms that have local affiliates, which is consistent with the interpretation that firms lobby for preferential treatment.

中文翻译：

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跨国银行和国际货币基金组织的条件

我们发现公司层面的证据表明，美国银行在 IMF 条件下的国家获得优惠待遇。我们依靠投资地点决策来推断公司对未来利润的预期，并发现美国公司收购具有金融条件的国家的金融公司的可能性大约高出 53%。没有财务条件的基金组织项目和其他部门的外国直接投资作为安慰剂测试。财务条件对非美国公司的投资决策影响较弱，这意味着政治经济解释。企业层面的数据表明，美国企业的独特行为并非源于规模优势或美国企业的固定效应，而是源于美国在 IMF 中的影响力。基金组织其他主要股东的公司也受益，但效果要弱得多。