Choosing to Target: What Types of Countries Get Different Types of World Bank Projects

2010 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 422-458 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew S. Winters
Keyword(s):  
International Development ◽  
World Bank ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Original Data ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Investment Projects ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
The World ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Aid Programs

Well-governed countries are more likely to make use of foreign aid for the purposes of economic development and poverty alleviation. Therefore, if aid agencies are providing funds for the sake of development, these countries should receive more aid and categorically different types of aid as compared with poorly governed countries. In poorly governed countries aid should be given in forms that allow for less discretion. Using an original data set of all World Bank projects from 1996 to 2002, the author distinguishes programmatic projects from investment projects and national from subnational investment projects. If the World Bank allows more discretion in well-governed countries, then it will choose to provide programmatic and national aid for these recipients. The author presents evidence that the World Bank provides a larger proportion of national investment lending in better-governed countries. With regard to programmatic lending, he finds mixed evidence. Among counties eligible for International Development Association (IDA) aid, good governance surprisingly is associated with a lower proportion of programmatic aid, whereas for International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) borrowers, good governance is associated with a higher proportion. The author subjects these results to a number of robustness checks. Although he confirms the existing result in the literature that the World Bank provides larger overall amounts of aid to better-governed countries, his examination of the disaggregated data leads to questioning whether both lending wings of the World Bank are designing aid programs in the most prodevelopment way possible.

What determines financial inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa?

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sydney Chikalipah
Keyword(s):  
International Development ◽  
World Bank ◽  
Financial Inclusion ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
The World ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Ssa Countries

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the determinants of financial inclusion (FI) in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Design/methodology/approach The paper uses the World Bank country-level data from 20 SSA countries for the year 2014. Findings The empirical findings in this study indicate that illiteracy is the major hindrance to FI in SSA. The findings provide useful information to government agencies and international development organisations. Also, the findings can help accelerate and strengthen FI strategies among SSA countries. Research limitations/implications Some countries were excluded from the final analysis due to lack of data. Practical implications In the last two decades, there has been renewed interest in fighting financial exclusion in Africa. Therefore, this study provide evidence which clearly shows that enhancing literacy levels in a country can immensely contribute towards building the financially inclusive societies in the SSA region. Originality/value To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study to empirically test the determinants of FI in SSA using the World Bank FI data set. Furthermore, this is the first attempt to estimate the determinants of FI with a combined data of SSA countries.

scholarly journals Chopping the world into bits: Africa, the World Bank, and the good governance norm

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 332-349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Gallagher
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
World Bank ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
The Other ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
The World

This article explores norms as idealizations, in an attempt to grasp their significance as projects for international organizations. We can think about norms as ‘standards of proper behaviour’. In this sense they are somehow natural, things to be taken for granted, noticed only really when they are absent. We can also think about norms as ‘understandings about what is good and appropriate’. In this sense, norms embody a stronger sense of virtue and an ability to enable progress or improvement. Norms become ideal when they are able to conflate what is good with what is appropriate, standard, or proper. It is when the good becomes ‘natural’ that a norm appears immanent and non-contestable, and so acquires an idealized form.45Along with the other articles in this special issue, I will attempt to challenge some of the complacency surrounding the apparent naturalness and universality of norms employed in international relations.

Trust-Funded Partnership Programmes of the World Bank under the ario

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 126-148
Author(s):  
Andrea E. Stumpf
Keyword(s):  
International Development ◽  
World Bank ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Third Parties ◽  
Fund Flows ◽  
Roles And Responsibilities ◽  
International Partnership ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
The World ◽  
Development Initiatives

This article suggests that the variety and complexity of international partnership programmes, especially those that contract major fund flows, can be sustained only if partners are able to allocate roles and responsibilities amongst themselves. The premise of this article is simple. Lest there be any doubt, agreed terms set forth in signed agreements and adopted partnership documents should be considered ‘rules of the organization’ under the ario, and should be recognized in allocating responsibility among international organizations and other partners in international development initiatives. A practical look at trust-funded partnership programmes involving the World Bank underscores the importance of lex specialis under the Articles on the Responsibility of International Organizations, including with respect to claims by third parties. At stake is the viability of such collaborative international development initiatives, which rests on the ability of partners to legitimately set their own terms for acknowledgment by others.

scholarly journals Biased Policy Professionals

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 310-327 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheheryar Banuri ◽  
Stefan Dercon ◽  
Varun Gauri
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
International Development ◽  
World Bank ◽  
Development Policy ◽  
Public Servants ◽  
Private Capacity ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
Subject Pool ◽  
The World ◽  
The Uk

Abstract Although the decisions of policy professionals are often more consequential than those of individuals in their private capacity, there is a dearth of studies on the biases of policy professionals: those who prepare and implement policy on behalf of elected politicians. Experiments conducted on a novel subject pool of development policy professionals (public servants of the World Bank and the Department for International Development in the UK) show that policy professionals are indeed subject to decision-making traps, including the effects of framing outcomes as losses or gains, and, most strikingly, confirmation bias driven by ideological predisposition, despite having an explicit mission to promote evidence-informed and impartial decision making. These findings should worry policy professionals and their principals in governments and large organizations, as well as citizens themselves. A further experiment, in which policy professionals engage in discussion, shows that deliberation may be able to mitigate the effects of some of these biases.

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