The World Bank Structure and Policies

Evaluation of effectiveness of World Bank and proposal for reorganisation as a 'Knowledge Bank'.

The World Bank is dedicated to the promotion of sustainable economic development and to poverty reduction throughout the developing world. It faces new challenges as capital shortages are replaced by large but volatile capital flows. The contributors to this volume argue that the Bank's greatest asset is its accumulated knowledge and experience of the development process, and propose that it organise itself around the concept of a 'Knowledge Bank'. They propose a shift in priority, away from lending with conditionality imposed on borrowing governments, towards assistance to governments in devising good development strategies. Part I examines the existing structure of the Bank and considers the World Bank as an institution. In Part II the effectiveness of World Bank assistance is evaluated. This book provides essential reading for politicians, civil servants, workers in the non-official sector, and academics and students involved or interested in the development process.

List of figures; List of tables; List of contributors; Acknowledgements; Introduction Joseph E. Stiglitz; 1. The World Bank: an overview of some major issues Christopher L. Gilbert and David Vines; Part I. The World Bank's Structure: The Bank as an Institution: 2. Positioning the World Bank Christopher L. Gilbert, Andrew Powell and David Vines; 3. The World Bank and poverty reduction: past, present and future Ravi Kanbur and David Vines; 4. Why the World Bank should be involved in development research Lyn Squire; 5. The challenges of multilateralism and governance Ngaire Woods; Part II. The Effectiveness of World Bank Assistance: 6. The World Bank and structural adjustment: lessons from the 1980s Francisco H. G. Ferreira and Louise C. Keely; 7. The implications of foreign aid fungibility for development assistance Shantayanan Devarajan and Vinya Swaroop; 8. Aid, growth, the incentive regime and poverty reduction Craig Burnside and David Dollar; 9. How policies and institutions affect project performance: microeconomic evidence on aid, policies and investment productivity Jonathan Isham and Daniel Kaufmann; 10. Increasing aid effectiveness in Africa? The World Bank and sector investment programmes Stephen Jones; 11. The World Bank, conditionality and the Comprehensive Development Framework Raul Hopkins, Andrew Powell, Amlan Roy and Christopher L. Gilbert; 12. Conditionality, dependence and coordination: three current debates in aid policy Paul Collier; Index.

One of the greatest assets of the World Bank is its accumulated knowledge and experience of the development process. This book proposes reorganisation as a 'Knowledge Bank'. Part I examines the World Bank as an institution, examining its structure. In Part II the effectiveness of World Bank assistance is evaluated.

Christopher L. Gilbert is Full Professor in the Department of Finance and Financial Sector Management at the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam. He is also Visiting Professor of Economics at Queen Mary & Westfield College, University of London.
David Vines is Fellow in Economics at Balliol College, Oxford. He is the Director of the Research Programme on Global Economic Institutions of the British Economic and Social Research Council. He is also Adjunct Professor of Economics at the Australian National University.