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.
Briefings
Finance
Analysis
Africa and the making of adjustment
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.
Accountability
Analysis
The IMF's regressive secret
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).
Environment
Analysis
Is the Bank's carbon markets approach an effective way to address climate change?
The World Bank's involvement in the carbon market is under hot debate: Janet Redman from the Institute for Policy Studies opposes its approach while Jon Sohn, from Climate Change Capital argues that there is a role for the Bank to play.
Private Sector
Analysis
The International Finance Corporation: Behind the rhetoric
There is evidence that the IFC's financing of small and medium enterprises, almost all of which occurs via financial intermediaries, is under-supervised, and that direct lending is still focused on large companies in emerging market economies with questionable value-added.
IFI governance
Analysis
Double majority decision making at the IMF
Many have championed the use of double majorities at the IMF board in order to increase the ability of developing countries to influence decision making. The acceptance of this idea by incoming IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn is welcome, but if he chooses to use a chair-based, rather than member-state-based, second majority it will not change the power dynamics at the board.
Accountability
Analysis
Transparency at the IMF
A guide for civil society on getting access to information from the IMF
IFI governance
Analysis
Reform of World Bank governance structures
This analytical note discusses potential governance reforms in the World Bank's governance structures, with an understanding that some reforms become more or less imperative depending on the direction of the discussions around the long-term strategic direction of the Bank.
Finance
Analysis
Programme conditions, project safeguards: Quo vadis World Bank?
This briefing clarifies the landscape of programme conditions and project safeguards and what it implies for a move towards responsible lending standards.
Accountability
Analysis
Consolidating ideology in law?
The World Bank has vastly increased the resources it commits to good governance, with a large portion of that going to a complex and under-researched area: legal and judicial reform. Researcher Victoria Harris explores how the Bank uses such reforms to cement in place its preferred market-based development paradigm.
Infrastructure
Analysis
At the crossroads: Which way the World Bank's transport strategy?
Following an IEG evaluation of the World Bank's work in transport, and delays in the release of a new Bank transport strategy, Public World director Brendan Martin asks what the Bank has learned. With spending on transport likely to increase, what direction will the Bank's transport projects take from here and who is in the driver's seat?
Social services
Analysis
The elusive quest for ‘fiscal space’
For the last several years the World Bank and IMF have squared off against governments, NGOs, UN agencies and even each other over the concept of ‘fiscal space’. This often nebulous and ill-defined term has caused much confusion. Nancy Alexander finds that at the heart of the matter is a difference of opinion over how and when governments should be allowed to invest in both infrastructure and basic services.
Featured briefings
12 December 2024
The Bretton Woods Observer: Winter 2024
12 December 2024
Missing in action: accountability is noticeably absent from the World Bank Group’s new Corporate Scorecard
The Corporate Scorecard’s accountability gap is symptomatic of a broader failure on the part of the WBG to fully internalise, integrate and learn from the work of its accountability mechanisms.
16 October 2024