The World Bank: Structure and Policies

by Edited by Christopher L. Gilbert , David Vines

• ISBN13: 9780521790956
• ISBN10: 0521790956
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-08-28
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

The World Bank is dedicated to the promotion of sustainable economic development and to poverty reduction throughout the developing world. The contributors to this volume argue the Bank's greatest asset is its accumulated knowledge and experience of the development process, and propose that it organize itself around the concept of 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.

Table of Contents

List of figures	xv
List of tables	xvi
List of contributors	xviii
Acknowledgements	xxii
Introduction	1	(9)
Joseph E. Stiglitz
The World Bank: an overview of some major issues	10	(29)
Christopher L. Gilbert
David Vines
The institutional organisation of the Bank	12	(2)
The history of the Bank	14	(3)
The World Bank's structure: the Bank as an institution	17	(4)
The World Bank's policies: the effectiveness of World Bank aid	21	(8)
The `Knowledge Bank': a unifying framework	29	(1)
The World Bank and crises	30	(1)
Plan of this volume	31	(1)
The past and the future	32	(7)
Part One: The World Bank's Structure: The Bank as an Institution
Positioning the World Bank	39	(48)
Christopher L. Gilbert
Andrew Powell
David Vines
Introduction and summary	39	(2)
Rationales for an institution like the Bank	41	(3)
Understanding and justifying the Bank's current activities	44	(10)
Two paradigms: the `Conditionality Bank' and the `Knowledge Bank'	54	(5)
The ineffectiveness of conditionality: evidence and implications	59	(6)
The Bank's role in the light of the emerging market financial crisis	65	(7)
The Bank as an institution	72	(15)
The World Bank and poverty reduction: past, present and future	87	(21)
Ravi Kanbur
David Vines
Introduction	87	(1)
A brief history of thinking about poverty reduction	88	(7)
World Bank thinking on, and policy actions towards, poverty	95	(6)
Poverty reduction and the Bank at the turn of the century	101	(7)
Why the World Bank should be involved in development research	108	(24)
Lyn Squire
Introduction	108	(3)
World Bank research and analysis	111	(1)
The World Bank and development research	112	(11)
The bottom line: quality and impact	123	(4)
Conclusion	127	(5)
The challenges of multilateralism and governance	132	(27)
Nagaire Woods
Introduction	132	(1)
The United States and the Bank as a multilateral institution	133	(4)
The relative autonomy of the Bank	137	(10)
New challenges	147	(3)
Conclusions	150	(9)
Part Two: The Effectiveness of World Bank Assistance
The World Bank and structural adjustment: lessons from the 1980s	159	(37)
Francisco H.G. Ferreira
Louise C. Keely
Introduction	159	(1)
The concepts, causes and nature of adjustment	160	(8)
Stabilisation policies	168	(7)
Adjustment and efficiency of resource allocation	175	(4)
Adjustment and equity	179	(9)
Conclusions	188	(8)
Appendix	189	(7)
The implications of foreign aid fungibility for development assistance	196	(14)
Shantayanan Devarajan
Vinya Swaroop
Introduction	196	(1)
Fungibility of economic assistance	197	(3)
Aid fungibility: a research review	200	(4)
Lending instruments and strategies: the implications of economic fungibility	204	(3)
Conclusion	207	(3)
Aid, growth, the incentive regime and poverty reduction	210	(18)
Craig Burnside
David Dollar
Introduction	210	(1)
Aid and growth: theory and evidence	211	(8)
Aid and infant mortality	219	(4)
Conclusions	223	(5)
How policies and institutions affect project performance: microeconomic evidence on aid, policies and investment productivity	228	(38)
Jonathan Isham
Daniel Kaufmann
Introduction	228	(1)
How policies and institutions affect project performance: a framework	229	(3)
The policy determinants of performance: evidence from economic projects	232	(12)
The effect of the overall public investment programme on investment returns	244	(4)
The effect of institutions on investment returns	248	(6)
Implications for World Bank policies and strategies	254	(12)
Appendix: a very simple theoretical model	258	(8)
Increasing aid effectiveness in Africa? The World Bank and sector investment programmes	266	(16)
Stephen Jones
Introduction	266	(1)
Key issues for aid effectiveness	267	(1)
Sector investment programmes	268	(5)
Sector investment programmes in practice: examples from Africa	273	(3)
The role of the sector approach in increasing aid effectiveness	276	(6)
The World Bank, conditionality and the Comprehensive Development Framework	282	(17)
Raul Hopkins
Andrew Powell
Amlan Roy
Christopher L. Gilbert
Introduction	282	(1)
The World Bank: a functional analysis	282	(3)
How to understand the World Bank	285	(3)
The conditionality debate	288	(2)
Conditionality trade-offs	290	(3)
Conditionality and the CDF	293	(2)
Conclusions	295	(4)
Conditionality, dependence and coordination: three current debates in aid policy	299	(26)
Paul Collier
Introduction	299	(1)
Policy conditionality	299	(13)
`Aid-dependency'	312	(8)
The aid relationship as an instrument for regional coordination	320	(2)
Conclusion	322	(3)
Index	325