Bretton Woods Project - Critical voices on the World Bank and IMF

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Knowledge

Examines the World Bank's role as a self-proclaimed "knowledge bank". Questions IFI's knowledge biases as well as providing critical analysis of the bank's development effectiveness and its new Information and Communications Technologies initiatives, such as the Development Gateway. Includes: Technical assistance, development gateway, World Development Reports, media, global public goods, research, poverty measurement, 'results' agenda read more background...

Briefings

The World Bank, the IFC and the antecedents of the financial crisis

At Issue|Paulo dos Santos|27 November 2008|update 63|url

The financial crisis seemed to come out of the blue, but Paulo dos Santos of the University of London argues that the ground was laid by financial sector privatisation, liberalisation and deregulation. Far from these trends being confined to the rich world, the World Bank and the IFC have played a key role in pushing these policies throughout emerging markets, exposing them to the fallout of the financial crisis. read article...

Africa and the making of adjustment How economists hijacked the Bank's agenda

At Issue|Howard Stein|29 September 2008|update 62|url

Development economist and professor of African studies Howard Stein examines the evolution of policy in the Bank, focusing on how economists became hegemonic. In this essay he details the origin of structural adjustment, tracing its roots back to a set of neoliberal economists who gained influence at the Bank in the late 1970s. read article...

The IMF's regressive secret Tax policy advice and its distributional impact

At Issue|Lauren Damme, Tiffany Misrahi and Stephanie Orel|17 June 2008|update 61|url

While tax policy and reform is an election battleground in developed countries, the IMF has increasingly turned it into a secret technocratic exercise in developing countries. This briefing examines the IMF's involvement in providing advice on tax policy, particularly its recommendations for the imposition of value added taxes (VATs). read article...

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World Bank-IMF spring meetings 2009

News|Bretton Woods Project|23 April 2009|url

This page will be updated regularly with the latest news from the 2009 World Bank and IMF spring meetings read article...

Bank results and monitoring weak: IEG

News|Bretton Woods Project|16 February 2009|update 64|url

A recent Independent Evaluation Group report, Decentralization in Client Countries, finds that in only a third of cases the Bank contributed positively to the effectiveness of recipient country attempts to decentralise. read article...

Recommended resources 2008

Resource|Bretton Woods Project|16 February 2009|update 64|url

Recommendations from Bretton Woods Project staff on the best papers, books and electronic resources of 2008. read article...

WDR 2009's quiet entrance

News|Bretton Woods Project|16 February 2009|update 64|url

The World Development Report (WDR) 2009, Reshaping Economic Geography was launched in November to little fanfare, buried deep in the wake of the financial crisis. read article...

Bankspeak of the year 2008

Humour|Bretton Woods Project|16 February 2009|update 64|url

Annual Bretton Woods Project award for the most incomprehensible or absurd use of language in a Bank or Fund document or speech. read article...

The World Bank, the IFC and the antecedents of the financial crisis

At Issue|Paulo dos Santos|27 November 2008|update 63|url

The financial crisis seemed to come out of the blue, but Paulo dos Santos of the University of London argues that the ground was laid by financial sector privatisation, liberalisation and deregulation. Far from these trends being confined to the rich world, the World Bank and the IFC have played a key role in pushing these policies throughout emerging markets, exposing them to the fallout of the financial crisis. read article...

2008 Bankspeak and resources

News|Bretton Woods Project|27 November 2008|update 63|url

Continuing a much-heralded tradition at the Bretton Woods Project, the first issue of 2009 will feature 'Bankspeak of the year' and 'resources of the year'. read article...

IEG evaluation of World Bank TA limited

News|Bretton Woods Project|27 November 2008|update 63|url

The recently released IEG evaluation Using Knowledge to Improve Development Effectiveness, examining the Bank's economic sector work (ESW) and non-lending technical assistance (TA) between 2000-2006 presents a limited review. read article...

World Bank monitoring weak

News|Bretton Woods Project|27 November 2008|update 63|url

This September's Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) Annual Review of Development Effectiveness (ARDE) highlights weaknesses in Bank monitoring and evaluation systems and provides worrying evidence that the Bank is not structured to work effectively on global public goods. read article...

World Bank-IMF annual meetings 2008

News|Bretton Woods Project|12 October 2008|url

At this year's annual meetings, the focus will of course be on the financial crisis gripping the rich countries of the world. Questions remain as to whether important issues around the World Banks role in climate change and its even governance structure will get the attention they deserve. read article...

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