Although according to the media, the theme for last fall's meeting of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group was all "sweetness and light", the February dollar crisis demonstrated the instability of the international monetary system. Now is the time for technicians to do the...

This paper examines historically the World Bank's twin features: lending to developing economies to achieve tangible results and advocating specific development policies. Section 1 provides some conceptual underpinnings for the view that an effective state is essential for development. It asks...

Prevailing economic ideas -- and fashions -- about development have influenced the International Development Association (IDA) since its creation in 1960. The creation of the organization itself is the result of two contemporaneous facts: an urgent need to channel development finance to...