Tuesday, November 27, 2007

What next for the World Bank?

The news might be a few months old, but today in class I will be discussing the role of the World Bank in the future of economic development. With the transition of leadership this summer how best should the World Bank move forward. Yesterday I was reviewing the opinions of Jeffery Sachs and William Easterly, two well known development economists, on the future of the World Bank. I found it funny while the two men disagree on many points their main recommendation was for more oversight and evaluation of the World Bank.

I’m still not sure exactly how this would function. Could it be done internally or should an external review board be created? Who would chose such a review board?

After a short term consultancy at the World Bank, it seems there is a lot of evaluation being performed on the programs implemented. Due to the nature of development economics it is sometimes difficult to enact change once problem areas are identified.

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