This is the first of two surveys of the World Development Report series. Here we focus on the discursive strategies adopted by the Reports. We begin by setting the Reports within the wider milieu of development theory and practice. Behind the pragmatic, problem-solving image that the Reports aim...

This paper aims to set the World Bank’s recent ‘Consultations with the Poor’ (CWP) exercise within the context of the broadening of definitions of poverty and ill-being and the current predilection for participatory research. The CWP exercise was intended to provide a nuanced...

Purpose – The purpose of this study is an attempt to identify the most crucial factors and their influence on one another, which can result in predicting the country’s next phase of progress based on these factors’ variation patterns. Design/methodology/approach – The authors proposed a...

In July 1944, representatives of the Allied nations gathered in BrettonWoods, New Hampshire and signed an agreement to rebuild the internationalmonetary system. From 1946 until August 15, 1971, major currencies were fixed tothe US dollar, and the dollar was, at the same time, convertible to gold...

Why do some countries adopt market-oriented reforms such as deregulation, privatization and liberalization of competition in their infrastructure industries while others do not? Why did the pace of adoption accelerate in the 1990s? Building on neo-institutional theory in sociology, we argue that...