Abstract
The World Bank, established in 1944, remained an important source of funding for developing countries generally through the early 1990s. Then an impressive increase in private flows reduced its overall significance. What remained was technical assistance on the one hand, and continued increasing credits of the International Development Association to the lowest income countries on the other. Despite criticism from both by the Right and the Left, the World Bank has survived, and has given voice to rising concerns about highly unequal distributions of income in the developing world, moving away from its earlier emphasis upon economic growth alone.
This chapter was originally published in The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, 2nd edition, 2008. Edited by Steven N. Durlauf and Lawrence E. Blume
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Bibliography
Akyüz, Y. 2004. The rationale for multilateral lending: A critical assessment. Unpublished manuscript, July.
Asher, R.B., and M. Edward. 1973. The World Bank since Bretton Woods. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.
Gavin, M., and R. Dani. 1995. The World Bank in historical perspective. American Economic Review 85: 329–334.
Gill, I.S., and P. Todd. 2005. At the frontlines of development: Reflections from the World Bank. Washington, DC: World Bank.
Kagia, R. 2005. Balancing the development agenda: The transformation of the World Bank under James D. Wolfensohn, 1995–2005. Washington, DC: World Bank.
Kapur, D. 2002. Do as I say not as I do: A critique of G7 proposals on reforming the MDBs. Working paper No. 16. Washington, DC: Center for Global Development.
Kapur, D., L. John, and W. Richard. 1997. The World Bank: Its first half-century. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.
Krueger, A.O. 1998. Wither the World Bank and the IMF? Journal of Economic Literature 36: 1983–2020.
Mason, E.S., and R.B. Asher. 1973. The World Bank since Bretton Woods. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.
Meltzer, A. et al. 2000. International Financial Institution Advisory Commission report. Washington, DC.
Mohammed, A.A. 2004. Who pays for the World Bank? G24 discussion paper.
Pincus, J.R., and A.W. Jeffrey. 2002. Reinventing the World Bank. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2008 The Author(s)
About this entry
Cite this entry
Fishlow, A. (2008). World Bank. In: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95121-5_2021-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95121-5_2021-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-95121-5
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Economics and FinanceReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences