Development economics in its early years created the image of a fierce fight between advocates of contrasting theories or approaches-"balanced growth"vs."unbalanced growth"or"program loans"vs."project loans."This view has the merit to highlight such conflicts in great detail; yet it fails to...

Until the late 1960s, the World Bank presented itself as an institution devoted to making sound and directly productive project loans. Yet, during its very early years, some discussions developed inside the Bank regarding the possibility of issuing different types of loans, namely (i) loans...