"Evaluation is increasingly important for finding sustainable solutions for the people and the planet, based on a systematic analysis of what works, for whom, and under what circumstances, and to contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, as they pertain to the...

This paper uses a panel data set of microfinance institutions (MFI) across the world to compare several identification strategies of cost efficiency and economies of scale. Concretely, we contrast the non-parametric Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) with the Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) and...

This paper analyzes whether and to what extent non-governmental organizations (NGOs) outperform official donors by allocating aid in a way that renders effective poverty alleviation more likely. We employ Probit and Tobit models and make use of an exceptionally detailed database that allows an...

Everyone knows that aid is not working as intended, and that something must change. The big question is how to change the status quo. The current international aid debate is characterized by dichotomies and over-simplified generalizations. In order to push the debate forward and identify...

Like all institutions, international financial institutions (IFIs) (1) are creatures of their past. Their organisation and orientation reflect the economic and political contexts in which they were born and evolved. So, too, will their future be shaped by global trends and the ways they respond...

Reconstruction and development. The Bretton Woods conference of 1944 gave rise to a set of global economic institutions - the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD or World Bank) and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT),...

Since the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund were launched at Bretton Woods more than 50 years ago, and the regional development banks in subsequent decades, the world economy has changed in important respects. In considering the role of international financial institutions (IFIs),...

The international economic order pursued by the Bretton Woods 'founding fathers' was based on the idea that a combination of different international institutions would be needed to keep the world financial system from degenerating into periodic and destructive crises (Mikesell, 1994). Following...

Changes in the role of collective action at the international level, in the international economic environment, and, most importantly, our better understanding of economics in general require that we rethink the role of international financial institutions (IFIs). For multilateral development...