Those already wary of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) can add another reason to their list: the IMF is ageist. At least, that’s the slightly tongue-in-cheek accusation made by David Bosco in Foreign Policy.
Stanley Fischer in 2000
The race to replace the IMF’s managing director wrapped up last year, with French lawyer and politician Christine Lagarde taking the reins of the organization. But there was some controversy when another candidate, Stanley Fischer, was ruled ineligible because of his age. Fischer was 67 at the time, making him two years too old for the position of IMF Managing Director.
As stated in the IMF’s by-laws: ” no person shall be initially appointed to the post of Managing Director after he has reached his sixty-fifth birthday and…no Managing Director shall hold such post beyond his seventieth birthday.”