Elisa Van Waeyenberge

Selectivity at Work: Country Policy and Institutional Assessments at the World Bank

The World Bank (WB) has been at the forefront of a redefinition of conditionality since the late 1990s, away from finance in return for the promise of policy reform, as was typical under structural adjustment, towards the disbursement of funds conditional on what has already been achieved. Under ‘selectivity’ or performance-based aid, aid allocations are rationed on the basis of deviation from an ideal country model, captured in the country policy and institutional assessment (CPIA). This article seeks to situate the emergence of the selectivity practice, and undertakes a close review of the CPIA, the mechanism at the heart of performance-based aid. This is set against the backdrop of the transition from Washington to post-Washington consensus. The CPIA emerges as a prism through which we can observe crucial features of how the WB’s relationship with poor countries is regulated. This reveals the persistence of a set of imperatives in the WB operational practices, often at variance with the WB rhetoric that has sought to move beyond the neo-liberal bias characteristic of the WB conditionality of the 1980s and early 1990s.En s’éloignant, à la fin des années 1990, des conditionnalités basées sur la réforme des politiques économiques – dont l’ajustement structurel constitue l’exemple type – la Banque mondiale a été à l’avant-garde de la redéfinition des conditionnalités de l’aide. Les déboursements de fonds sont maintenant conditionnés par les résultats obtenus. Dans ce contexte de performance, l’aide est allouée en se référant aux déviations par rapport à un modèle de pays idéal appréhendé dans le country policy and institutional assessment (CPIA). Cet article s’intéresse à l’émergence de ces pratiques, et passe en revue le CPIA qui est au cœur des mécanismes d’allocation de l’aide basée sur la performance, tout en situant le processus dans le cadre de la transition qui s’est opérée du consensus de Washington au consensus post-Washington. L’analyse du CPIA met en lumière les principales caractéristiques de la régulation des relations de la Banque mondiale avec les pays pauvres, et en particulier la persistance de certaines prescriptions qui diffèrent souvent des discours cherchant à dépasser le biais néo-libéral des années 1980 et du début des années 1990.

A Paradigm Shift that Never Was: Justin Lin’s New Structural Economics

This paper assesses the attempt by Justin Lin, former Chief Economist of the World Bank, to posit a new development paradigm through his New Structural Economics, NSE. Lins attempt to redefine development economics deserves scrutiny for at least two reasons. First, he launched his framework when he was Chief Economist at the Bank. Critical scrutiny of his proposition then allows for continued insights into the complex relationship between scholarship and policy at the Bank. Second, Lins framework claims a return to a ‘structural’ understanding of development, with a strong industrial policy rhetoric emanating from it. This has been greeted with considerable enthusiasm by erstwhile critics of the Bank. Closer scrutiny of the NSE, nevertheless, reveals the flawed nature of its core theoretical notion of comparative advantage and exposes its strong, if unfortunately conservative, commitment to a flawed and incoherently applied neoclassical economics, accompanied by a persistently narrow policy scope.

Unpacking the Public Private Partnership Revival

Abstract This paper examines the recent resurgence of interest in public-private partnerships (PPPs) to provide infrastructure in developing countries. First, the paper demonstrates that there has been a revival of support for private sector participation in infrastructure. Second, the paper argues that this revival differs from earlier attempts to increase the involvement of the private sector in public service provision in a number of respects. In particular, the current support for PPPs is related to an increased availability of global financial capital. Third, the paper considers the implications of this distinct feature of the revival for development.

The IMF, Crises and Low-Income Countries: Evidence of Change?

This paper assesses the policy role of the IMF in Low-Income Countries (LICs) in the wake of the global financial crisis and in response to its own claims of policy redesign and increased flexibility. The assessment focuses on the Funds monetary and fiscal policy stance in a selection of case study countries over the period 2008−2010. The paper finds that while the IMF has allowed for modest and short-term fiscal and monetary accommodation as an immediate response to the crisis, the Funds medium to long-term policy agenda has remained unchanged. Both theory and evidence suggest that the Fund remains committed to its pre-crisis policy priorities. Furthermore, the global financial crisis appears to have enabled the Fund to reassert its role as guardian of an orthodox macroeconomic order. These developments are particularly troublesome given that the Funds prevailing macroeconomic framework continues to be inconsistent with the urgent development needs of LICs, where more expansionary fiscal policies and more liquidity-focused monetary policies are needed to support structural diversification, and foster sustainable and equitable growth and development.

Crisis? What crisis? A critical appraisal of World Bank housing policy in the wake of the global financial crisis

This paper critically assesses international policy advocacy on how to resolve massive shelter needs in the developing world. It does so by focusing on the World Bank as a leader in development. It argues that the Bank’s housing policy remains thoroughly limited by its persistent commitment to neoliberal and financialised policy practices. These put housing finance at the centre of attempts to relieve shelter needs in the developing world despite the dramatic failures of such an approach as laid bare through the global financial crisis. The paper takes a historical approach to examine the trajectory of World Bank housing policy and is based on close scrutiny of a combination of quantitative and qualitative data. It concludes that an urgent need persists for a decoupling of finance from housing in international policy advocacy.

Moving beyond the paradox of macroeconomic stability in Uganda

This article explores macroeconomic policies in Uganda in the wake of the global financial crisis and following the publication of the 2010 National Development Plan. Despite apparent changes in rhetoric regarding macroeconomic policies by the Ugandan authorities, the paper demonstrates how the commitment to conservative monetary and fiscal policies prevails. The article analyses how the persistently conservative macroeconomic policy stance has exacerbated the lack of economic transformation in the Ugandan economy. The resultant outcome has been a failure to absorb the fast-growing Ugandan labour force into productive and gainful employment. The case is therefore made for an alternative macroeconomic framework that puts public investment at its centre and which complements macroeconomic policies with suitable sector-specific and industrial policies.