This research area focuses on the transformation of economic paradigms and reform concepts as well as of policy making and statehood more generally. Of particular interest is the empirical analysis of international financial organizations, the adaptation of their guidelines in national economic policies (in Eastern Europe, East Asia, Latin America and, following the financial crisis of 2008/09, also in Southern Europe), and the resulting transnational feedback processes. Comparative approaches and perspectives embedded in the history of transfer will also bring into focus the social consequences of these conceptual changes, zooming in on regional, generational, and class- and gender-specific divergences as well as societal and political responses to neoliberal economic policies.