There are only a handful of studies that examine public support for the IMF and World
Bank. At the individual level, evaluations of the economy feature prominently in these
studies. Utilizing data from the Afrobarometer study, we find that evaluations of the
economy, ideology and a range of socio-demographic factors including age, gender,
employment status, health, education, and living conditions are not significantly related to
ratings of effectiveness. Rather, we find that political trust and corruption – two very
important concepts in the wider literature on individual level attitudes toward international
relations and foreign policy issues – are strongly associated with ratings of effectiveness.