Forgotten world (70): World Bank
The World Bank – located in Washington DC – is a group of five international organisations responsible for providing finance and advice to countries for the purposes of economic development and eliminating poverty. The Bank came into formal existence on 27 December 1945 following international ratification of the Bretton Woods agreements. Today it has 185 countries in membership.
The World Bank’s activities are focused on developing countries, in fields such as human development (e.g. education, health), agriculture and rural development (e.g. irrigation, rural services), environmental protection (e.g. pollution reduction, establishing and enforcing regulations), infrastructure (e.g. roads, urban regeneration, electricity), and governance (e.g. anti-corruption, legal institutions development).
Joseph Stiglitz was a member of the Council of Economic Advisors under President Clinton who then became the Chief Economist at the World Bank. In his book “Globalisation And Its Discontents” [my review here], he argues for changes to the governance of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to give developing countries a stronger voice, more transparent policy formulation and decision-making by bodies like the IMF and the World Bank, more consultation with countries about their development strategies, more attention to the sequencing and pacing of economic reforms, greater provision of bankruptcy and standstill arrangements, and interventions to reduce excessive short-term capital flows.